Clone breeding and vegetative reproduction of tea plant (Thea sinensis) in the conditions of Azerbaijan

Tea growing in Azerbaijan is concentrated on an area of 5.33 thousand square kilometers, located within the Lankaran and Astara districts, including the districts of Astara, Lankaran, Masally, Lerik, Yardimly and Jalilabad. About 90% of Azerbaijani tea is produced in Lankaran, near the southern border with Iran. Tea was first grown in the Caspian region of Azerbaijan in the 1880s. Due to its favorable climatic conditions, the region currently produces 99% of the Azerbaijani tea harvest. The cultivation of tea in the country is limited by soil and climatic conditions and the biological characteristics of plants. The article gives a general characteristic of tea plantations growing in the conditions of the Lankaran-Astara zone (southern part) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which is relatively unfavorable for tea plants. The results of research on clonal breeding of tea are presented, to select new forms to increase productivity and product quality. It is noted that during seed propagation, tea bushes have a significant difference in morphological and biological characteristics. Tea plants differ in yield, the strength of shoots, quality indicators of raw materials, length of the growing season, generative activity, and other economic characteristics. The variability inherent in the tea plant can be successfully used for the selection and isolation of the forms most valuable in terms of breeding characteristics, and their further vegetative reproduction. The transfer of the tea-growing industry of the republic to a modern scientific basis by breeding and planting plantations with new high-yielding and high-quality cultivars clones will contribute to the intensification of production.