30 I EUROPEAN SEED I EUROPEAN-SEED.COM THAT WILL HELP YOU IN YOUR BREEDING WORK? WHAT ARE THE MAIN SOURCES OF YOUR DIVERSITY: MAINLY COMMERCIAL VARIETIES, OR ALSO LANDRACES AND OTHER SPECIES? SK: Progress in plant improvement pro- grammes is dependent on the extent of genetic diversity within the available genetic stocks. TRI has collected and conserved several tea germplasm. This collection includes landraces, popular commercial cultivars, wild teas and non- tea related species. Further, the institute has introduced cultivars with unique traits to its collection by entering into germplasm exchange agreement with other tea producing countries. ES: DO YOU FIND THAT YOU HAVE SUFFICIENT ACCESS TO NEW GERMPLASM, OR HAS THIS BEEN MADE MORE DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF THE NEW REGULATIONS ON ACCESS AND BENEFIT SHARING? RC: There has been limi- tation to accessing new germplasm which is attributed to the new regulations on access and benefit sharing of plant genetic resources. ES: WHICH KIND OF INVESTMENTS IN TIME AND MONEY (ON AVERAGE AND ROUGH ESTIMATES) DOES IT TAKE TO DEVELOP A NEW TEA VARIETY? SK: Being a perennial crop, it takes over 20 year to develop a new tea variety. During the period of selection, enormous resources are utilized. ES: HOW DOES YOUR ORGANIZATION MAKE SURE THAT YOUR FUTURE PRODUCTS ARE ALIGNED WITH WHAT THE GROWERS AND CONSUMERS WANT? RC: Research at the institute is guided by a Research and Advisory Committee, comprising tea industry stakeholders. The committee is composed of repre- sentatives from the entire tea industry who play a key role in developing the TRI research agenda. ES: WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR A BREEDER WHEN DEVELOPING A NEW TEA VARIETY? SK: A major challenge to tea breeders in Kenya is climate change. It is predicted that the main tea growing areas will expe- rience an increase in the length of dry sea- sons per year, warmer temperatures and/ or extreme rainfall intensity. The phe- nomenon is further complicated by the fact that drought stress might accompany heat and/or salt stress depending upon the severity of the drought stress and the environmental conditions including soil type. Under such circumstances, world tea production is clearly vulnerable to the pre- dicted drought and climate change effects, and subsequently greater economic, social, and environmental problems. These neces- sitate intense research to improve tea pro- duction under diverse stress conditions. Further, financial resource to carry out research is limiting bearing in mind the Kenyan tea industry has stopped funding research through the tea levy. ES: WHAT ARE THE INNOVATIONS (TECHNOLOGICAL, GENETIC, MOLECULAR ETC.) WHICH ARE IN THE PIPELINE IN TEA BREEDING? RC: I n a n ef for t to shorten the breeding time, the institute has adopted molecular biol- ogy approaches in breeding. Recent advances in both g e n e t i c a n d genomic tech- nologies provide opportunities to develop millions of novel markers in tea, as well as iden- tify genes of agronomic importance that permits an understand- ing of how important agronomic traits are controlled, knowledge of which can be directly translated into crop improvement. ES: WHAT KIND OF HURDLES DO YOU EXPERIENCE WHEN BREEDING AND COMMERCIALIZING A TEA VARIETY SK: The institute is underfunded and therefore unable to adequately meet its research mandate. ES: YOU HAVE RECENTLY DEVELOPED A NEW TEA VARIETY WITH HIGH LEVELS OF ANTHOCYANIN IN THE LEAVES AND A REDDISH-BROWN LEAF COLOUR. IT IS MARKETED AS ‘PURPLE’ TEA. WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT THIS NEW VARIETY? RC: The purple tea variety was officially released for commercial use vide Gazette Notice No. 9231 of 29th July 2011 as per the requirements of the “The Seeds and Plant Varieties Act (Cap 326)”. Prior to its gazettement, the variety had success- fully undergone the various stages of evaluation right from breeding, progeny testing, clonal field testing, clonal adapt- ability trials by TRFK plant breeding team and regulatory evaluations by the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) office of Kenya Plant Health Plant Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) entailing distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) testing to Variety Release Committee Examination (chaired by Agriculture Secretary, MoA), a period that spanned nearly 30 years. The variety is an inter-specific hybrid between a tea plant, Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze and non-tea plant, namely Camellia irrawadiensis (Hu) P.K. Barua, rich in anthocyanins. Other purple tea varieties/clones mainly with Chinary (small-leaved and shrubby) character- istics also exist in TRI tea improvement programme but they are generally poor yielding with tiny shoots owing to which they are disliked by tea pickers (major desirable attributes that are considered by growers include heavy and easy to pluck shoots). ES: CREATING DIVERSITY FOR YOUR GROWERS AND CUSTOMERS IS OF CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE FOR ANY BREEDER. WHERE DO YOU GO TO FIND THE NECESSARY GERMPLASM