Original article Natural variation of main biochemical components, morphological and yield traits among a panel of 87 tea [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze] cultivars Fawad Zaman a,b , E. Zhang a,b , Li Xia a,b , Xielong Deng b , Muhammad Ilyas b , Ahmad Ali c , Fei Guo a,b , Pu Wang a,b , Mingle Wang a,b , Yu Wang a,b , Dejiang Ni a,b , and Hua Zhao a,b,) a Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Biology of Ministry of Education, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China b College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China c College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China Available online xxx ABSTRACT Many attentions have been previously focused to identify the multiple biochemical components related to tea quality and health benefits, however, the natural variation of biochemical components present in tea germplasm has not been adequately evaluated. In this study, the main biochemical components, leaf morphological and yield characteristics were evaluated for four rounds of tea leaves in a panel of 87 elite tea cultivars suitable for black, green, or oolong tea. Significant variations were observed among the tea cultivars, as well as seasonal differ- ences in the levels of the free amino acid (FAA), caffeine (CAF), tea polyphenols (TP), water extract (WE) and TP to FAA ratio (TP/FAA). Results showed that the average levels of FAA showed a seasonal change, with the highest level of 4.0% in the 1 st spring tea in the cultivars suitable for green tea and the lowest of 3.2% in summer tea in the cultivars suitable for black tea. The average CAF content was highest 3.2% in the cultivars suitable for oolong tea in the 1 st spring and the lowest 2.5% in the cultivars suitable for green tea in summer. Limited seasonal and varietal variations were noticed in the average levels of WE among the three categories of tea. In addition, significant natural variation of the morphological characteristics, bud length varying from 2.5 cm to 8.7 cm, bud density from 190.3 buds m -2 to 1 730.3 buds m -2 , mature leaves biomass from 128.4 kg.hm -2 to 2 888.4 kg$hm -2 , and yield component traits of 100 buds (one bud with two leaves) dry weight from 3.7 g to 37.7 g, tea yield/round from 444.6 kg$hm -2 to 905.3 kg$hm -2 , were observed. The aim of our evaluation was not only to identify the advantages of seasonal and clonal variations but also to provide a new viewpoint for their further application. Representative accessions were selected from the germplasm to promote the establishment of an inherent biochemical constituent expressing the quality of black, green, and oolong tea. The findings might be utilized to establish early selection criteria to enhance the tea breeding and production program. Keywords: Camellia sinensis; Biochemical components; Germplasm; Natural variation; Morphology; Yield 1. Introduction Tea is one of the most popular non-alcoholic drinks consuming throughout the world, which animates many economic, health, and cultural values with nearly 70% of the world's population drinking it for its pleasant flavor, nice aroma, bioactive constituents, and relatively relaxing properties (Karak and Bhagat, 2010; Xia et al., 2017). The tea plants originate from ) Corresponding author. E-mail address: zhaohua@mail.hzau.edu.cn Peer review under responsibility of Chinese Society of Horticultural Science (CSHS) and Institute of Vegetables and Flowers (IVF), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) December 2022. Horticultural Plant Journal, xxx (xxxx): 1e14 Horticultural Plant Journal Available online at www.sciencedirect.com The journal's homepage: http://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/horticultural-plant-journal https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpj.2022.08.007 2468-0141/Copyright © 2022 Chinese Society for Horticultural Science (CSHS) and Institute of Vegetables and Flowers (IVF), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).