The Latin name for Assam tea revisited and the further nomenclatural significance of the three editions of Julius Bosse's Vollständiges Handbuch der Blumengärtnerei – and contemporary compendia

AbstractTea is an important plantation crop of some Asian and African countries. Based upon the morphological characteristics, tea is classified botanically into 2 main types i.e. Assam and China, which are morphologically very distinct. Further, they are so easily pollinated among themselves, that a third category, Cambod type is also described. Although the general consensus of origin of tea is India, Burma and China joining area, yet specific origin of China and Assam tea are not yet clear. In the present study, we made an attempt to understand the origin of Indian tea through the comparative analysis of different chloroplast (cp) genomes under the Camellia genus. Cp genome based phylogenetic analysis indicated that Indian Assam Tea, TV-1 formed a different group from that of China tea, indicating that TV-1 might have undergone different domestication and hence owe different origin. The simple sequence repeats (SSRs) analysis and codon usage distribution pattern also supported the clustering order in the cp genome based phylogenetic tree.

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Volatile profiles and antioxidant activity of different cultivars of Camellia sinensis var. assamica grown in Thailand

Food Research ◽

10.26656/fr.2017.5(2).581 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 354-362

Author(s):

S. Khruengsai ◽

T. Sripacho ◽

P. Pripdeevech

Keyword(s):

Antioxidant Activity ◽

Volatile Compounds ◽

Camellia Sinensis ◽

Antioxidant Activities ◽

Epigallocatechin Gallate ◽

Dry Weight ◽

Epicatechin Gallate ◽

Potential Health ◽

Linalool Oxide ◽

Assam Tea

Tea is considered as the most consumed drink in the world containing high antioxidant capacity. In this study, the volatile compounds, the phenolic content, catechins and caffeine including antioxidant activities of 22 Camellia sinensis var. assamica (Assam tea) cultivars were investigated. The volatile compounds were investigated by GC-MS. At least forty-five volatile compounds representing 94.99-99.65% of all cultivars were identified. Limonene, trans-linalool oxide, cis-linalool oxide, linalool, and furfural were detected as the major components among these cultivars. Varied ranges were found in all Assam tea cultivars for the contents of phenolics (113.45-245.55 mg gallic acid/g dry weight), total catechins (170.03-355.59 mg/g dry weight), caffeine (0.92-3.40 mg/g dry weight), and antioxidant activities (1418.68-2728.46 µmol Trolox/g dry weight and 1448.98-2864.17 µmol Trolox/g dry weight for DPPH and ABTS assay, respectively). The antioxidant activity was correlated with phenolic compounds such as epigallocatechin gallate, epicatechin gallate, and catechin gallate. The specific differences among Assam tea cultivars are dependent on the tea cultivar and altitude which may play a significant role in breeding Assam tea cultivars in Thailand for providing its potential health benefits.

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