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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. sp5 (2026): Recent Advances in Agriculture

Quality deterioration in made tea due to blister blight disease

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.11226
Submitted
10 August 2025
Published
15-07-2026

Abstract

Tea, a widely consumed beverage around the world, is vulnerable to blister blight disease caused by Exobasidium vexans Massee, which results in substantial crop losses and deterioration in quality. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of blister blight infection on tea quality attributes and biochemical constituents in elite tea cultivars from Southern India. Six cultivars (TRF-1, TRF-4, CR-6017, UPASI-20, TTL-2 and UPASI-9) were assessed for changes in yield, productivity and quality parameters under diseased conditions. Blister blight infection significantly reduced green leaf yield, productivity index and major quality constituents, including theaflavins (TF), thearubigins (TR) and caffeine. Total polyphenol and catechin (C) contents were also markedly decreased in infected leaves, with the highest reduction observed in the CR-6017 clone. Among individual catechins, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) was predominant but showed a significant decline due to disease infection. The study demonstrates that blister blight disease adversely affects both tea quality and biochemical composition, highlighting the need for effective disease management and resistant cultivar development to sustain tea productivity and quality.

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