2003 Volume 2003 Issue 96 Pages 15-26
A new cultivar 'Harumoegi' for green tea was bred at the Tea Branch, Miyazaki Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station and registered as Cha Norin No.51 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in September, 2003. This cultivar was selected out of seedlings crossed between 'NN27' and 'ME52' in 1981.
The characteristics of the cultivar are as follows ;
This cultivar is medium budding, both the flushing and the plucking times of the 1st crop are 2 days later than in 'Yabukita'. The shape of the plant is erect type and the growth is fairly vigorous. The spread of tea bush is narrower than in 'Yabukita'. The color of immature leaves is light green.
It is middle susceptible to tea anthracnose (Colletotrichum theae-sinensis) and resistant to tea gray blight (Pestalotiopsis longiseta). It is fairly resistant both to cold in midwinter and to bark split frost injury in earlywinter. The annual green leaf yield is much the same of 'Yabukita'. Quality of the processed tea is very good because the color is bright green, both aroma and taste are mild. The content of amino acids in the processed tea is high, the content of tannin is low.
