Abstract:
Tea is grown in diverse regions with varying climates. Growers seek high-yielding and
superior quality cultivars to improve profitability of the enterprise. A superior quality genotype
in one location is assumed to replicate the same attributes when planted in different regions,
especially when climatic variations are minimal. Assessment of 20 commercial genotypes
under identical management in three locations within Kenya revealed significant (p⩽ 0.05)
plain tea quality differences, demonstrating the need to identify superior quality clones.
There were significant (p⩽ 0.05) differences in the plain tea quality parameters with location
of production. It is therefore not possible to produce tea of the same quality even from the
same cultivars when the production location is varied. Regression coefficients (r2) of linear
correlations of the same parameters at different sites revealed low values that cannot be …