Abstract
Light, deep and medium skiffings of branches are applied as pruning techniques for the rejuvenation of tea plants. Although root plowing is considered to be useful to improve soil productivity, it often causes a depression of the vigor of tea plants due to unexpected root cutting.
In this study, we described the effect of pruning of top and root parts on the rejuvenation of old tea plants to develop a practical pruning method.
1. The pruning of top parts of the tea plants improved the growth and yield. Although the pruning of the root parts depressed the vigor of the plants in the first year, the vigor recovered three years after the treatment.
2. Pruning of both top and root parts improved the leaf size and thickness.
3. When only top parts were pruned, the plucking surface tended to be rough due to the increase in the emergence of new sucker shoots and withered branches.
4. Pruning of both top and root parts of old tea plants resulted in an early recovery of yield and improvement of the quality of tea leaves.
