Effects of Production Locations and Plucking Intervals on Clonal Tea Fatty Acids Levels in the Kenya Higlands

Tea leaves contain unsaturated fatty acids which are precursors of aroma compounds. Despite uniform plucking practices in Kenya, plain black tea quality varies with locations. Variations in tea aroma and/or precursors with production area have not been established in a single cultivar under same agr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH 2012, Vol.18(3), pp.351-356
Main Authors: OKAL, Amos W., OWUOR, P. Okinda, KAMAU, David M., MANG’URO, Lawrence O.A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Camellia sinensis
fatty acids
location of production
plucking interval
tea
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Tea leaves contain unsaturated fatty acids which are precursors of aroma compounds. Despite uniform plucking practices in Kenya, plain black tea quality varies with locations. Variations in tea aroma and/or precursors with production area have not been established in a single cultivar under same agronomic input at different locations. Trials were conducted in five locations using clone BBK 35, harvested at varying intervals. The fatty acids varied (P ≤ 0.05) with locations and increased (P ≤ 0.05) with long plucking intervals, demonstrating leaf of same standard plucked at varying intervals contains different levels of fatty acids even in one location. The different increase rates in various locations might be in part the reason of the differences in aroma of black tea from different locations even when agronomic inputs are similar. Results demonstrate that harvesting at shorter intervals and developing region-specific plucking policies may improve tea quality.
ISSN:1344-6606
1881-3984
DOI:10.3136/fstr.18.351