Abstract: Camellia sinensis is a cross-pollinated plant. To explore the effect of xenia on tea seeds, this study conducted artificial pollination experiments using ‘Jincha 18’ as the maternal parent and cultivars including ‘Taicha’, ‘Lizaoxiang’‘Qianmei 1’‘Jiukengdaye’ and ‘Qianmei 809’ as the paternal parents. The differences in fruit set rate, economic traits and quality traits of tea seeds among different pollination combinations were compared, and principal component analysis (PCA) was employed for comprehensive evaluation. The results demonstrate xenia effects on multiple tea seed indicators under different paternal pollination treatments, including dry seed weight, dry kernel weight, oil content and fatty acid composition. Among the five pollination combinations, those with the paternal parents ‘Taicha’‘Qianmei 1’ and ‘Jiukengdaye’ exhibited significantly higher fruit set rates compared to the naturally pollinated control group. Seeds with ‘Qianmei 1’ as the paternal parent had comparable seed diameter, dry seed weight, and dry kernel weight to those of the naturally pollinated group, but significantly higher values than other pollination combinations. Seeds with ‘Taicha’ or ‘Lizaoxiang’ as the paternal parent had significantly higher oil content, total fatty acid content, and unsaturated fatty acid content than other pollination combinations. A comprehensive evaluation of six pollination combinations via principal component analysis reveals that combinations with ‘Taicha’ and ‘Lizaoxiang’ as the paternal parents, together with the naturally pollinated group, ranked among the top three in overall performance scores. Further analysis demonstrates that when used as a pollinizer for ‘Jincha 18’‘Taicha’ significantly increased both tea seed yield and quality parameters, concurrently enhancing fruit set rate , oil content and unsaturated fatty acid proportion.

Key words: ‘Jincha 18’, xenia, artificial pollination, fruit-setting rate, tea seed traits