Impact assessment of climate change on tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze): Response of twenty eight tea clones to elevated levels of carbon dioxide and temperature

Abstract

Climate change which has become more severe in recent years is already being witnessed in many tea growing regions of the world including India. An attempt has been made to study the effect of climate change scenario on performance of different tea clones so that the results can be used by tea industry as an adaptive measure during replantation and new plantation. Two sets of experiments were carried out in the experimental area of Tocklai Tea Research Institute, Jorhat, Assam (26æ%43ÊN and 94æ%13ÊE). Twenty eight Tocklai released/recommended tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) clones were tested by using Open Top Chamber facility. The work was started on 2014 and completed on 2017. The experiments were carried out in pots and designed based on factorial RBD. The pots were placed under three regimes such as elevated temperature, elevated carbon dioxide and temperature and ambient condition. The level of carbon dioxide was mantained 450, 500 and 550 ppm. The level of temperature was kept between 3-50 more than ambient. Morphological, physiological and biochemical parameters of the plants were measured at stipulated time interval. Morphological parameters considered were plant height, collar diameter, number of branches and number of leaves. Clone TV2, TV13, TV19 and TV23 showed significant increase in height compared to ambient when they are exposed to an elevated carbon dioxide and temperature. Clone TV3, TV4, TV8, TV20, TV22, TV29 and TTRI1 showed significant increase in elevated carbon dioxide and temperature compared to ambient conditions. In some cultivars, the response was not found to be prominent. Similarly the results of other parameters also showed variations among the clones.