Differential desiccation tolerance among mature seeds of tea {Camellia sinensis L.)collected from three sites in China

摘要

Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze (Theaceae), tea, is the most widely consumed beverage plant in the world with commercial production in over 40 countries yielding ~3.6 million tons of tea leaves annually. Because of the likely presence in wild speciesof traits desirable for plant breeding, it is important to conserve the genetic resources in the Camellia genus for future exploitation. However, for tea (C. sinensis) the assignment of storage biology has been the subject of debate and dispute as the response to desiccation has varied with seed lot (Chen et al 2012), although the reasons for such variability have not been resolved. The aim of present study was to study the storage behaviour of tea seeds from three sites in China, to consider desiccation tolerance in the context of the environment of the species, to relate storage performance at -20t to the thermal properties of the lipids and to establish whether pro - oxidant treatment could alleviate desiccation stress. Overall, we wished to identify the MPDT of mature tea seeds.