Sains Malaysiana 54(3)(2025): 797-814

http://doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2025-5403-15

 

Exploring the Diversity of Shan Tea in Vietnam through SSR Markers, Morphological Traits, and Biochemical Content

(Meneroka Kepelbagaian Teh Shan di Vietnam melalui Penanda SSR, Ciri Morfologi dan Kandungan Biokimia)

 

KHUYNH THE BUI1, THAI HOANG DINH1, NGOC-THANG VU1, VAN THU DANG2, THI VIET HA DO3, XINGHUI LI4 & XUAN HOANG TRAN3,*

 

1Faculty of Agronomy, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi 131000, Vietnam

2The Vietnamese Tea Science – Technology Association, Phu Tho 293823, Vietnam

3Tea Research and Development Center, Northern Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute, Phu Tho 293823, Vietnam

4Tea Research Institute, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China

 

Received: 7 June 2024/Accepted: 14 December 2024

 

Abstract

Shan tea (Camellia sinensis var. Shan), a variety native to the mountainous regions, used to prepare ‘Che Shan Tuyet’- a high quality standard tea product with cultural significance, is considered the most precious tea in Vietnam. However, little is known about its genetic diversity, composition, and variation in biochemical content across the central growing regions until now. Here, the use of 30 pairs of SSR primers selected based on their proven high utility in previous studies in tea with high polymorphisms showed that the Shan tea population exhibit rich genetic diversity, with gene diversity (H) varying from 0.47 to 0.82 and the polymorphic information content (PIC) ranging from 0.47 to 0.84. The cluster (UPGMA-based) analysis showed that 60 Shan tea accessions can be categorized into three groups with different origins. Biochemical profiles including tannin and catechins were observed to have high variation by harvest season of which the highest content was recorded during summer. Though the variation in biochemical profiles was not considerably significant among the three groups of origin, accessions from Suoi Giang (Yen Bai) significantly had lower content of tannin, EC, ECG, and EGC compared to Shan tea in Cao Bo (Ha Giang). In addition, morphology-based PCA also showed that it is practical to discriminate three groups of different origins, with the essential traits being leaf blade width, pericarp thickness, leaf area (PC1), fruit length, and fine pluck weight (PC2). The clustering of 60 Shan accessions based on morphological traits also showed consistent results with the genetic diversity analysis conducted using SSR, where accessions from Suoi Giang and Cao Bo had higher similarity levels than accessions from Tua Chua.

Keywords: Biochemical profile; genetic diversity; morphology; Shan Tea germplasm; SSR marker

 

Abstrak

Teh Shan (Camellia sinensis var. Shan), varieti asal di kawasan pergunungan, digunakan untuk menyediakan ‘Che Shan Tuyet’ - produk teh berkualiti tinggi dengan kepentingan budaya, dianggap sebagai teh paling berharga di Vietnam. Walau bagaimanapun, sedikit yang diketahui tentang kepelbagaian genetiknya, komposisi dan variasi kandungan biokimia di seluruh rantau kawasan tengah berkembang sehingga kini. Di sini, penggunaan 30 pasang primer SSR yang dipilih berdasarkan utiliti tinggi yang terbukti dalam kajian teh terdahulu dengan polimorfisme tinggi menunjukkan bahawa populasi teh Shan menunjukkan kepelbagaian genetik yang kaya dengan kepelbagaian gen (H) berbeza dari 0.47 hingga 0.82 dan kandungan maklumat polimorfik (PIC) antara 0.47 hingga 0.84. Analisis kelompok (berasaskan UPGMA) menunjukkan bahawa 60 aksesi teh Shan boleh dikategorikan kepada tiga kumpulan dengan asal usul yang berbeza. Profil biokimia termasuk tanin dan katekin diperhatikan mempunyai variasi yang tinggi mengikut musim menuai yang mana kandungan tertinggi direkodkan semasa musim panas. Walaupun variasi dalam profil biokimia tidak begitu ketara dalam kalangan tiga kumpulan asal, aksesi daripada Suoi Giang (Yen Bai) secara signifikan mempunyai kandungan tanin, EC, ECG dan EGC yang lebih rendah berbanding teh Shan di Cao Bo (Ha Giang). Di samping itu, PCA berasaskan morfologi juga menunjukkan bahawa adalah praktikal untuk mendiskriminasi tiga kumpulan asal yang berbeza, dengan ciri penting ialah lebar helai daun, ketebalan perikarpa, luas daun (PC1), panjang buah dan petik halus berat (PC2). Pengelompokan 60 aksesi Shan berdasarkan ciri morfologi juga menunjukkan hasil yang tekal dengan analisis kepelbagaian genetik yang dijalankan menggunakan SSR, dengan aksesi daripada Suoi Giang dan Cao Bo mempunyai tahap persamaan yang lebih tinggi daripada aksesi daripada Tua Chua.

Kata kunci: Germplasma Teh Shan; kepelbagaian genetik; morfologi; penanda SSR; profil biokimia

 

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*Corresponding author; email: hoangxuantrannomafsi@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

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