Studying the adaptability of promising breeding forms of tea to static environmental factors

The article presents the results of a long-term assessment of the adaptive potential of breeding forms of tea plants cultivated in the natural and climatic conditions of the North-Western Caucasus (the Republic of Adygea) in order to select the most promising samples from the existing gene pool and use them to breed local highly adaptive varieties. In the course of studying adaptability, generally accepted methods have been used, including the «Program and Methodology for the Study of Fruit, Berry and Nut Crops», 1999 and «Determining the Resistance of Fruit and Berry Crops to Cold Season Stressors in Field and Controlled Conditions», 2002. Meteorological and climatic features of the tea growing area have been analyzed, weather conditions compared with the biorhythms of introduced plants, their influence on the state and productivity of tea noted. Correlation relationships between the temperature factor and the onset of the development phase of tea plants have been characterized. As a result, data have been obtained on the winter hardiness of the studied forms for various components, resistance to excess and lack of heat, and the characteristics of the growth and development of tea plants in various weather conditions and against the background of various regeneration processes have been analyzed. To accelerate the determination of the viability of the conducting system, the authors carried out the growth of damaged shoots at room temperature and presented in the article the results of observations that made it possible to see hidden local tissue damage and characterize their types. The most adaptive forms are AF-3 and AF-5, which show the best resistance to damaging environmental factors, have a high regenerative capacity and can provide a good harvest of green tea leaves for the sustainable development of tea growing in Adygea.