AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE AND MUTATION ANALYSIS OF PLASTID GENE OF CLONES OF TEA PLANTS UNDER CULTIVATION IN KAKARA TEA PLANTATION MAMBILA, SARDAUNA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA TARABA STATE – NIGERIA

Tea is one of the most consumed non-alcoholic beverages globally and it is made from tea plant using the leaf. Morphological and molecular analysis are important for characterizing the plant. There is no documented information on agronomic performance and current mutation analysis of tea clones under cultivation in Kakara tea plantation. Therefore, this research seeks to determine the agronomic performances and mutation analysis of tea clones under cultivation in Kakara tea plantation using Mat K gene. Six original tea clones and 40 tea samples were randomly collected germplasm, Kusuku, Bangoba and Kasalasa. Morphological parameters measured, genomic DNA extracted, PCR amplifications and sequencing of Mat K gene were performed. Morphological data were analysed using Predictive Analytic Software. Dendrograms were constructed using Ward’s method. Chromatograms were converted into nucleotide sequences using ChromasPro software, Multiple sequence alignment was performed using MEGA X software for SNPs analysis. The highest leaf length was 24.530±3.036cm from Kasalasa (KA2) and the least was 10.030±0.044cm for clone 236. The highest and least value of leaf width was 7.560±0.044cm (KA9) and 3.803±0.028cm (clone 236) respectively. The highest leaf area was 104.900±16.627cm2 (KA2) and the least was 28.200±0.235cm2 for clone 236. The leaf area-based dendrogram revealed two main clusters (Cluster I and Cluster II) with sub-clusters I and II. The mutation analysis of Mat K gene sequences from C. sinensis samples showed that KU3 (Kusuku 3) was more genetically diverse based on amino acids sequences when compared with all original clones. Morphological characters were used in this study. The mutation analysis of Mat K gene sequence revealed greater conserved region (homogenous population); depicting narrow genetic diversity in the tea population in Kakara Tea Plantation, Mambilla plateau, Taraba State, Nigeria. There is need to introduce new gene pool.