India is a leading tea producing country in the world which contributes 23% of global tea production and export of Indian tea earns 780 million USD per annum. This eco-friendly Indian Tea Industry provides employment to 1.16 million Indians directly and equal number indirectly. However yield stagnation of this century old tea plantation along with climate change are major bottlenecks of Indian Tea Industry. Thus there is a need of scientific intervention for increasing the profitability of the tea industry through the development of climate smart high yielding tea varieties for which genome information is required.
Apart from India, China is also a major tea growing country and another major exporter of tea around the world. Tea plant is originated in Indo-China border and botanically there are two types of tea plant that are cultivated worldwide. One is short leaved Chinese tea (Camellia sinensis), cultivated in China, Japan etc. and another is long leaved Assam tea (Camellia assamica), pre-dominantly found in India and later introduced from India to many other countries such as in Sri Lanka, Africa, Bangladesh, Pakistan etc. Although Chinese believed that tea plant is originated in China exclusively yet Robert Bruce, a Briton discovered the indigenous tea bushes in North East India in early 18th century, generating a mystery of the origin of Indian tea.
Recently, in a landmark discovery, a team of scientist from different institutions of India lead by Prof Tapan Kumar Mondal have decoded the first chromosome-scale genome sequence of India’s popular Assam type tea variety TV1 (Camellia assamica or C. sinensis var.assamica), marking a major advancement in our understanding of tea genome directly along with the origin, domestication of Indian tea plant and generated several thousands of chromosome-wise DNA markers such as SSRs/SNPs which can be used to breed the new generation cultivar for Indian tea Industry.
Although at present there are more than 500 tea cultivars in India but TV-1 was the first and popular cultivar developed way back in 1949 by Mrs Tunstall, wife of the Chief Scientific officer of Tocklai Experimental Station, Jorhat, Assam but still used in Indian Tea Industry. The original plant is around 106 years old whose genome has been decoded and maintained at Tocklai Experimental Station, Tea Research Association, Jorhat, Assam. This study by Indian Scientist, published recently in a renounced journal, “Industrial Crops and Products” (Elsevier Publication,), provides insights into how Indian type tea was evolved, developed its distinctive traits, and synthesized caffeine, revealing the genetic adaptations that differentiate it from China type tea (C sinensis var. sinensis).
The present work from Prof Mondal established the fact that Assam type of Indian tea is originated in India and different from Chinese tea. Chinese tea researchers are always opposing a separate origin of tea plant for many years. This breakthrough not only revealed that Indian tea has separate origin and domestication but it also has significant implications for the Indian tea industry, potentially aiding tea breeders to develop climate resilient, high-yielding, and high-quality tea varieties. Further it is also important for Intellectual Property Right such as Geographical Tag that are granted to 4 different India tea gown in Assam, Darjeeling, Palampur and Ooty. It can also help to prevent the piracy of Indian tea bushes to the neighboring tea growing countries.
This multi-institutional collaborative study was funded by National Tea Research Foundation, Tea Board, India and lead by Dr Tapan Kumar Mondal, Principal Scientist of Indian Council of Agricultural Research- National Institute for Plant Biotechnology (NIPB), New Delhi in collaboration with Dr Sangeeta Borchetia and her team of Tea Research Association – Tocklai Tea Research Institute (TTRI) Jorhat, Dr R.Victor J. Ilango and his team of United Planters Association of South India, Tea Research Foundation, Tea Research Institute, Tamil Nadu, Dr B. Bera and his team of Darjeeling Tea Research and Development Centre, Tea Board, Darjeeling, West Bengal and Mr Soundararajan S and his team of National Tea Research Foundation, Kolkata, West Bengal. This partnership reflects a concerted effort to advance research in tea cultivation and production, underscoring a commitment to enhancing the tea industry through scientific innovation…
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