Effect of Intercropping Apple with Tea on Quality of Tea Leaves

The tea leaves in orchard that intercropping apple with tea and the tea leaves in orchard that only planting tea were compared,and the quality changes of them in annual growth cycle were also observed.The results showed that in different seasons,there were huge differences between tea leaves with intercropping and tea leaves without intercropping(control).In summer,the thickness of cutin layer,the upper epidermis and the under epidermis of tea leaf and the thickness of tea leaf with intercropping were all thinner than that of control,but the thickness of stockade tissue and the sponge tissue of tea leaf with intercropping were all thicker than that of control.In comparison with control,the tea leaf with intercropping had soft texture and high content of water extracts,so the quality of tea leaf was improved;the contents of free amino acids,caffeine and chlorophyll of tea leaf with intercropping were all higher than that of control,but the contents of tea polyphenols and tea polysaccharides of tea leaf were lower than that of control,and the proportion of tea polyphenols to free amino acids of tea leaf decreased;all these changes are beneficial to improve the quality of green tea that processed by tea leaves.In the spring and autumn,the quality changes between tea leaf with intercropping and tea leaf without intercropping were not obvious like the changes in summer,but they have the same total trend.