TEA

History
TRI was first established in 1925 as an arm of the Planters’ Association of Ceylon, in order to enrich the tea industry through professional research findings. The institute had its early beginnings in Nuwara Eliya town with a representative nucleus of staff undertaking research in make-shift laboratories with very modest equipment and then transferred to the present location, the St. Coombs Estate in Talawakelle, in December 1929. 


Gradually TRI spreads into all tea growing areas of the country by establishing regional centres in Passara (Uva region), Kandy (Mid country region), Ratnapura (Low country region), Galle (Galle District), Deniyaya (Matara and Hambantota Districts) and Kaluthara (Kaluthara District). The two estates, St. Coombs in Talawakelle and St. Joachim in Ratnapura, which are operated under TRI, provide facilities to undertake research in cultivation and processing while making some earnings to the institute.


Breeding for crop improvement
The sustainability and profitability of the tea industry depend primarily on the availability of desired planting materials. At present, 80% of the VP extent is planted with a few high-yielding cultivars which do not possess many desirable attributes, such as resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses that prevail in different tea-growing regions. Hence the R&D activities for tea crop improvement are focused on incorporating desirable attributes that are not present, in the existing high-yielding cultivars, to increase growers' acceptability and meet the diverse needs of the end-users. By undertaking collaborative research with growers at the later stages of the cultivar-development process, the current research program aims at diversifying breeding strategies to conform to the diverse socio-economic and agro-ecological conditions. In addition, efforts are being made to breed, select and release new improved cultivars, that would be better suited to future demands, by integrating non-conventional breeding techniques.

Alternative energy sources and engergy-saving techniques
Sri Lanka produces about 300 million kg of tea. There are about 600 factories in operation in the country. According to an energy audit carried out in the past, the total energy usage for tea processing is about 25.4 MJ per kg of made tea, which consist of about 3.4 MJ of electrical energy and 22.0 MJ of thermal energy. On the basis of 300 million kg of production per annum, the total energy usage by the tea industry is 283 GWh of electrical energy, and 6,600 tera Joules of thermal energy per annum.

In black tea processing, thermal energy is used to generate hot air for the drying and withering processes. The fuel source widely used is firewood. The commonly used firewood species are gum, rubber and jungle trees. The availability of good firewood in right quantities is becoming increasingly difficult at factory locations; firewood is scarce most of the time. As a result, the price of firewood increases with increasing demand. The cost of thermal and electrical energy is about 30% of the total cost of tea processing (Rs.47.00). The cost of energy is increasing with increasing fuel prices and increasing charges for electricity. Therefore it is necessary to find alternative energy resources and energy-saving techniques for factories, in order to reduce the cost on fuel in tea processing. Research and development activities is therefore, focused on following areas.