© 2007 Heron Publishing—Victoria, Canada
Tea (Camellia sinensis) clones with shorter periods of winter dormancy exhibit lower accumulation of reactive oxygen species
Dhiraj Vyas (1, 2, 3), Sanjay Kumar (1, 3) and Paramvir Singh Ahuja (1)
1. Biotechnology Division, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, P.O. Box 6, Palampur (H.P.) 176061 India / 2. Present Address: School of Biotechnology, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, P.O. Kakryal, Udhampur, J&K 182121 India / 3. Corresponding authors (dhirajvyas@rediffmail.com, sanjayplp@rediffmail.com) / Received August 21, 2006; accepted December 12, 2006; published online June 1, 2007
Summary
Tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) is a perennial crop grown throughout the world. During winter, tea undergoes a dormancy period when growth
of apical buds almost ceases, severely reducing the commercial yield of tea. Low temperatures prevail during the period of
winter dormancy, which alone or in combination with high solar irradiance have the potential to induce oxidative stress in
plants. We studied six tea clones under field conditions to test whether a relationship exists between oxidative stress and
winter dormancy. Data on the behavior of the enzymatic antioxidative system was collected for all clones during different
phases of winter dormancy. There was a strong positive correlation among clones between accumulation of reactive oxygen species
(ROS) and the length of the dormancy period. Clones having shorter dormancy periods exhibited higher induction of antioxidative
enzymes. Results suggest that efficient scavenging of ROS is a desirable feature in tea because it leads to lower accumulations
of ROS during winter months and is associated with reduced winter dormancy.
Keywords:
low temperature, oxidative stress, photosynthesis.
