The effect of different plucking interval of 7, 10, and 14 days and nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulfur (NPKS) fertilizer rate of 0, 50, 75, 100 and 200 kg ha-1year-1 on tea, Camellia sinensis (L) O. Kuntze was studied. Regardless of the fertilizer rate, all the fertilizer treatments produced significantly higher mean yield and table rise as compared to no fertilizer application. Results also showed that the largest yield was obtained with 100 kg ha-1year-1 of fertilizer at plucking interval of 7 days. The frequency of plucking also influenced rise in height, but had little effect on the shoot density during the study period. No significant interaction between plucking frequency and fertilizer rate were noted in the study, indicating that the patterns of response were similar in all cases. The results suggested that relatively high rate of NPKS fertilizers stimulate faster growth of shoots which require shorter plucking interval to cope with shoot production.

Keywords: Plucking interval, fertilizer rate, interaction, yield, Camellia sinensis (L).