Effect of Plant Density and Nitrogen Fertilizer Application Rates on Nutrient Content of Clonal Tea Leaf

Trial on plant density which started in 1990 has revealed that in clonal tea, yield significantly increased with decrease in plant population density (ppd), with the highest ppd showing significantly lower yield than all the other ppd. However, this effect was opposite when the tea was young. Nitrogen availability affects yield of tea. Yields increase with increasing use of nitrogen up to high levels with proportional increase in economic returns. It was not therefore known whether the same ppd and nitrogen effect applies to nutrients content. This study was carried out to determine the effect of plant density of AHP S15/10 clonal tea plants and rates of nitrogenous fertilizer applied on leaf nutrients content in Kericho, Kenya. Leaf samples were collected from all the experimental plots. The samples were analyzed for their contents of macro and micro elements by ICPE spectroscopy. The tea leaves of the study clone showed similar accumulation patterns for nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese and aluminium nutrients across the nitrogen rates. Nitrogen content was least in the highest ppd. Among the nutrients content in the leaf tissue, phosphorus was the most abundant element (0.21 – 0.24%). This therefore means that plant density determine the nutrients content in leaf.