Investigating the Diversity of Camellia sinensis L. Genotypes by Their Echophytochemical Properties at Different Site of Gilan Province

Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) is a woody and perennial plant belonging to the Theaceace family. In this study, we evaluated the diversity of tea plant ecotypes from Langroud, Lahijan and Siahkal regions (ten ecotypes in each region) as three major tea growing regions in Iran during 2019. Traits such as fresh and dry weight, chlorophyll a, b and total, caffeine, polyphenols, percentage of total ash and water soluble and insoluble ash were measured. The analysis of variance showed a significant difference (P≤0.01) between tea ecotypes for all traits. The highest dry and fresh leaf weight was obtained in Siahkal ecotype (code 11). Siahkal ecotype (code 13) had the highest percentage of caffeine (7.63%), whereas Lahijan ecotype (code 21) represented the maximum amount. The highest amount of chlorophyll a and total chlorophyll was observed in Siahkol ecotype (code 18) and the highest amount of chlorophyll b was observed in Lahijan ecotype (code 30). The maximum (9.45%) and minimum (3.1%) polyphenols (9.45%) were obtained in Siahkal (code 16) and Lahijan (code 21), respectively. Siahkal (code 18), Siahkal (code 12) and Lahijan (code 21) represented the optimum total ash, soluble and insoluble ash in water, respectively. In general, ecotypes belonging to Siahkal region (codes 11, 13, 16 and 18) can be used in planning breeding projects and deciding to select suitable parents in hybridization to increase tea yield and phytochemical properties.