Comparative Assessment of Growth and Quality Characteristics of Tea Nursery Plants Propagated by Seed and Cutting

Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) cultivation is an important agricultural activity in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Türkiye, where commercial tea production is concentrated. Most Turkish tea plantations were established from seed, resulting in genetic and phenotypic variability, while vegetative propagation remains limited. This study compared seed and cutting propagation across eight tea plant materials to evaluate their effects on nursery plant performance and the potential of clonal propagation for plantation renewal. For each genotype, 48 seeds and 48 leaf-bud cuttings were established, totaling 768 propagation units. To provide a more consistent assessment of root development, method-specific five-level tea root development scales (TeaRDS) were developed for seed- and cutting- derived nursery plants. Seed-derived nursery plants generally showed greater shoot growth, stem diameter, and root weight. In contrast, TeaRDS-based root development scores did not differ significantly between propagation methods. The effects of propagation method varied among genotypes, and multivariate analyses showed that cutting- and seed-derived plants had the most similar developmental profiles in 53 ME 265 and 53 AD 83 (d = 1.85 and 2.03, respectively). These findings demonstrate that, although cutting propagation does not provide the same growth performance as seed propagation in all genotypes, selected genotypes can achieve comparable developmental profiles, supporting the use of clonal propagation as a promising strategy for the renewal of aging tea plantations in Türkiye.