Abstract: To facilitate the scientific assessment of germplasm evaluation and cultivation management of albino tea plants (Camellia sinensis L.), this study investigated the photosynthetic pigment contents, as well as the photosynthetic and chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics of three albino cultivars, with the normal tea cultivar ‘Fuding dabaicha’ (FD) as the control. The results show that (1) the total chlorophyll content of yellow tea leaves was 71.7%-86.8% lower than that of the control cultivar, and the total carotenoid content remained between 0.16 mg·g^-1 and 0.31 mg·g^-1. (2) The net photosynthetic rate (P_n), stomatal conductance (G_s), water use efficiency (WUE), the maximum net photosynthetic rate (P_{n max}), and light saturation point (LSP) of three albino tea cultivars were significantly decreased, and the optical compensation point (LCP) was significantly was than those of the control. (3) The photosynthetic processes of albino tea cultivars, such as absorption, transformation and consumption of light energy were significantly different from those of the control. Among them, the relative variable fluorescence at L and J points in the OJIP curve of albino tea cultivars ‘Jinfeng 2’ (JF2) and ‘Zhonghuang 1’ (ZH1) were significantly higher. Among the chlorophyll fluorescence kinetic parameters, M_O, DI_O/RC, φD_O and φR_O increased significantly, while F_V/F_O, ET_O/RC, φP_O, φE_O, ΨE_O and PI_abs decreased significantly. Our study found that the photosynthetic efficiency, potential and ecological adaptability of albino tea leaves were significantly decreased. The significant reduction of photosynthetic pigment, the significant decrease of PSⅡ light capture and photosynthetic electron transfer efficiency, and the significant increase of heat dissipation energy were the considerable reasons for inhibition of photosynthetic performance in albino tea plants.

Key words: albino tea plant, photosynthetic characteristic, chlorophyll fluorescence