USE OF THERMALLY HYDROLYZED KERATIN PEPTIDE SOLUTION IN ENHANCING THE YIELD AND QUALITY OF TEA LEAVES

Abstract

Present invention teaches the method of using a keratin hydrolysis peptide (KHP) solution to enhance the yield and quality of tea leaves. By selectively choosing specific weights of feathers and water, and treating the mixture to a high-temperature high-pressure hydrolysis process, the resulting solution is confirmed to contain at least 253 peptides and then apply to the tea trees either by infusing to the soil or by leaf spray at certain growth stages. Optionally, the KHP solution can be diluted by water, as disclosed in the specification, for soil infusing or leaf spraying.

Claims

1. A method of using a keratin hydrolysis peptide (KHP) solution to enhance the yield and quality of tea leaves, comprising the steps of: a. Preparing the KHP solution by mixing 66 kg of feathers whose content is 50% water and 44 kg of water in a sealed container; b. hydrolyzing the mixture in the container with a temperature and pressure setting of 195 C. and 16 kg/cm.sup.2 for a duration of 40 minutes; c. using a mass spectrometer to confirm the combination of peptides in the solution to contain at least 253 peptides as listed in the specification where their molecular masses are between 500 and 4,000 Daltons, and the concentration is in the range of 2.010.sup.54.510.sup.5 ppm; and d. applying the KHP solution by either soil infusion or leaf spray.

2. The method of using a keratin hydrolysis peptide solution of claim 1 wherein the soil infusion application of KHP solution is done one week after initial harvesting.

3. The method of using a keratin hydrolysis peptide solution of claim 2 wherein the solution is diluted with water by volume at the ratio of 1:50-500.

4. The method of using a keratin hydrolysis peptide solution of claim 1 wherein leaf spray application of KHP solution is done at the one-bud-with-one-leaf and one-bud-with-two-leaf stages.

5. The method of using a keratin hydrolysis peptide solution of claim 4 wherein the solution is diluted with water by volume at the ratio of 1:50-500.

6. A method of using a keratin hydrolysis peptide (KHP) solution to enhance the yield and quality of tea leaves, comprising the steps of: a. Preparing the KHP solution by mixing 50 kg of feathers whose content is 50% water and 40 kg of water in a sealed container; b. hydrolyzing the mixture in the container with a temperature and pressure setting of 185 C. and 12 kg/cm.sup.2 for a duration of 80 minutes; c. using a mass spectrometer to confirm the combination of peptides in the solution to contain at least 253 peptides as listed in the specification where their molecular masses are between 500 and 4,000 Daltons, and the concentration is in the range of 2.010.sup.54.510.sup.5 ppm; and d. applying the KHP solution by either soil infusion or leaf spray.

7. The method of using a keratin hydrolysis peptide solution of claim 6 wherein soil infusion application of KHP solution is done one week after initial harvesting.

8. The method of using a keratin hydrolysis peptide solution of claim 7 wherein the solution is diluted with water by volume at the ratio of 1:50-500.

9. The method of using a keratin hydrolysis peptide solution of claim 6 wherein leaf spray application of KHP solution is done at the one-bud-with-one-leaf and one-bud-with-two-leaf stages.

10. The method of using a keratin hydrolysis peptide solution of claim 9 wherein the solution is diluted with water by volume at the ratio of 1:50-500.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0021] The accompanying drawings, figures and tables, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate and exemplify the preferred embodiments of the invention. Together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

[0022] FIG. 1A shows the tea shoot harvested weights among the three groups CK, KHP-1 and Urea in a unit area.

[0023] FIG. 1B shows the comparison of the proportions of terminal facing leaves calculated from the tea shoot among the three groups CK, KHP-1 and Urea.

[0024] FIG. 2A shows the tea shoot harvested weights among the four groups CK, KHP-1 250, KHP-1 500 and KHP-1 1000.

[0025] FIG. 2B shows the hundred-bud weight counts among the four groups CK, KHP-1 250, KHP-1 500 and KHP-1 1000.

[0026] FIG. 3 shows the evaluation points assessed by certified tasters among the four groups CK, KHP-1 250, KHP-1 500 and KHP-1 1000.

[0027] FIG. 4A shows the bud weights measured 9 days after KHP infusion for the three groups CK, KHP-2 125 and KHP-2 250.

[0028] FIG. 4B shows the bud weights measured 21 days after KHP infusion for the three groups CK, KHP-2 125 and KHP-2 250.

[0029] FIG. 5A shows the bud weights measured 6 days after the first KHP leaf spray for the three groups CK, KHP-1 500 and KHP-2 500

[0030] FIG. 5B shows the bud weights measured 12 days after the second KHP leaf spray for the three groups CK, KHP-1 500 and KHP-2 500.

[0031] FIG. 6 shows the leaf area comparison among the first, second, third and fourth leaves from the buds on the 21.sup.st day after KHP infusion for the three groups CK, KHP-2 125 and KHP-2 250.

[0032] FIG. 7 shows the leaf area comparison among the first, second, third and fourth leaves from the buds on the 21.sup.st day after KHP leaf spray for the three groups CK, KHP-1 500 and KHP-2 500.

[0033] FIG. 8A shows the tea shoot weights where the harvested leaves are taken above 78 cm height from the ground, for KHP solutions applied by soil infusion and leaf spray.

[0034] FIG. 8B shows the tea shoot weights where the harvested leaves are taken at height range of 68-78 cm from the ground, for KHP solutions applied by soil infusion and leaf spray.

[0035] FIG. 8C shows the weight total from the two harvesting heights, for KHP solutions applied by soil infusion and leaf spray.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0036] The keratin hydrolysis peptide (KHP) solution of present invention is made by a high-temperature and high-pressure process to treat a mixture of water and feathers as shown in the parameters herein.

[0037] The KHP solution in present application of a first embodiment takes the steps of: [0038] a. Preparing the KHP solution by mixing 66 kg of feathers whose content is 50% water and 44 kg of water in a sealed container; [0039] b. hydrolyzing the mixture in the container with a temperature and pressure setting of 195 C. and 16 kg/cm.sup.2 for a duration of 40 minutes; [0040] c. using a mass spectrometer to confirm the combination of peptides in the solution to contain at least 253 peptides as listed in the specification where their molecular masses are between 500 and 4,000 Daltons, and the concentration is in the range of 2.010.sup.54.510.sup.5 ppm.

[0041] The keratin hydrolysis peptide (KHP) solution of the first embodiment is further filtered and concentrated to 200,000 ppm concentration.

[0042] The KHP solution in present application of the second embodiment takes the steps of: [0043] a. Preparing the KHP solution by mixing 50 kg of feathers whose content is 50% water and 40 kg of water in a sealed container; [0044] b. hydrolyzing the mixture in the container with a temperature and pressure setting of 185 C. and 12 kg/cm.sup.2 for a duration of 80 minutes; [0045] c. using a mass spectrometer to confirm the combination of peptides in the solution to contain at least 253 peptides as listed in the specification where their molecular masses are between 500 and 4,000 Daltons, and the concentration is in the range of 2.010.sup.54.510.sup.5 ppm.

[0046] The keratin hydrolysis peptide (KHP) solution of the second embodiment is further filtered and concentrated to 301,500 ppm concentration.

[0047] The confirmation of some of the 253 peptides, in both embodiments, is further done by referencing the BIOPEP-UWM database.

[0048] The mixture ratio, temperature, pressure and duration parameters are summarized below:

TABLE-US-00001 Water content Feather Water in feather Pressure Temp. Time Mass Concen. (kg) (kg) (%) (kg/cm.sup.2) ( C.) (min) (Da) (ppm) KPH-1 66 44 50% 16 195 40 593.3~3828.0 200000 KHP-2 50 40 50% 12 185 80 593.3~3508.9 301500

[0049] The inventors tested the KHP solutions by two methods of application to promote the growth of tea trees without advancing the aging process or increasing the terminal facing leaves appearance: soil infusion and leaf spray.

[0050] The inventors defined a unit area of 3030 cm.sup.2 for harvesting tea shoot and measuring weights. The inventors further defined a percentage value of cease-growing bud weight relative to the total bud weight, as indication of the increased tea leaf production without advancing the bud-aging side-effect.

[0051] The inventors further defined a hundred-bud weight count for a hundred buds in a 3030 cm.sup.2 area using the formula of [total tea shoot weight]/[bud count]100.

[0052] The inventors also retained three (3) certified tasters to provide their taste evaluations, at total points of 100, divided into four (4) categories: aroma (30%), taste (30%), color (20%) and look (20%).

[0053] The inventors conducted many experiments to compare the effectiveness of KHP-1 and KHP-2 solutions, either by soil infusion or by leaf spray, at the dilution ratios as indicated herein below.

[0054] A check group, noted as CK, indicate the application of water only, without any urea fertilizer or any embodiment of KHP solution.

[0055] One of the experiments involves first soil infusion application one week after initial harvesting, then leaf-spraying of KHP-1 500 solution twice, first time at the one-bud-with-one-leaf stage and second time at one-bud-with-two-leaf stage. In addition to a CK group, another urea application group of 200 dilution (200 kg of water to 1 kg of urea) is also tabulated. The result is shown in FIG. 1A where the tea shoot's production for the KHP-1 500 group is 32.54 g in a 900 cm.sup.2 harvest area, higher than that of the CK group (20.86 g) and urea group (28.69 g).

[0056] When measuring the proportion of terminal facing leaves expressed as percentages, the KHP-1 group (500 dilution) is 36.6%, only slightly higher than that of the CK group (at 33.6%), whereas the urea group comes in at a much higher 47.4%. This is reflected in FIG. 1B.

[0057] Further experiment conducted by the inventors was done at a second growth season during Summer (after the spring harvesting where the leaf spray was done twice, at one-bud-with-one-leaf and one-bud-with-two-leaf stages as described earlier) where KHP-1 solutions at 3 dilution ratios of 250, 500 and 1,000 are leaf-sprayed to the tea trees. A CK group of tea trees are sprayed with water only. Tea shoots from a unit area of 900 cm.sup.2 are collected and measured, tabulated into FIGS. 2A and 2B.

[0058] FIG. 2A shows the increased tea shoot weight, in a unit area of 900 cm.sup.2 over that of the CK group. The KHP-1 1000 group has tea shoot weight of 48.80+/12.45 g; the KHP-1 500 group has tea shoot weight of 57.83+/9.30 g; and the KHP-1 250 group has 59.6+/17.47 g. All show superior tea shoot production yields.

[0059] For the hundred bud-weight count, FIG. 2B shows the KHP-1 250 and KHP-1 500 to have superior tea shoot production yield. The KHP-1 500 group comes in at 108.5+/23.71 g; the KHP-1 250 group comes in at 88.95+/17.96 g. Both are higher than the CK group's 85.27+/7.61 g.

[0060] From the tea shoot (one-bud-with-two-leaf) harvested at the second (Summer) season, the inventors use 150 ml of boiling water to make tea drink from 3 g of the tea shoot and asked the certified tasters to score the tea from the four groups: CK, KHP-1 250, KHP-1 500 and KHP-1 1000, based upon the four categories defined previously. FIG. 3 shows the KHP-1 250 at 82.85 points and the KHP-1 500 at 82.25, while the KHP-1 1000 at 78.12 points, all are higher than the CK group's 77.37 points.

[0061] The inventors experimented the KHP solutions on low-elevation tea trees, by infusing the soil with KHP-2 125 and KHP-2 500 solutions. Same as before, tea trees in CK group are given water only. The soil infusion is done 4 times after the initial nutritional liquids are used up.

[0062] The experiment on low-elevation tea trees also includes KHP application by leaf spraying with KHP-1 500 and KHP-2 500 solutions. The leaf spraying is done twice: at one-bud-with-one-leaf and one-bud-with-two-leaf stages.

[0063] On the 9th and 21.sup.st days after the fourth soil infusion, the tea shoot hundred-bud weights are measured and tabulated into FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B.

[0064] As shown inf FIG. 4A, on the 9th day, the hundred-bud weight in the KHP-2 125 group is 40+/4 g, the hundred-bud weight in the KHP-2 250 group is 38+/3 g; both are higher than the 28+/4 g of the CK group.

[0065] As shown in FIG. 4B, on the 21.sup.st day, the hundred-bud weight in the KHP-2 125 group is 84+/13 g, the hundred-bud weight in the KHP-2 500 group is 95+/7 g; both are higher than the 68+/6 g of the CK group.

[0066] On the 6th day after the first leaf spray and on the 12.sup.th day after the second leaf spray, the hundred-bud weights in the three groups are measured and tabulated into FIGS. 5A and 5B: CK, KHP-1 500 and KHP-2 500.

[0067] As shown in FIG. 5A, on the 6th day after the first KHP leaf spray, the hundred-bud weight in the KHP-1 500 group is 36+/1 g, the hundred-bud weight in the KHP-2 500 group is 34+/9 g; both are higher than the 29+/3 g of the CK group.

[0068] As shown inf FIG. 5B, on the 12th day after the second KHP leaf spray, the hundred-bud weight in the KHP-1 500 group is 82+/17 g, the hundred-bud weight in the KHP-2 500 group is 73+/9 g; both are higher than the 69+/8 g of the CK group.

[0069] The inventors used a leaf analysis system (WinFOLIA Pro LA 2400, Regent Instruments, Inc.) to scan and calculate leaf surface area of the first, second, third and fourth leaves from the buds on the 21.sup.st day after the fourth soil infusion and the 12.sup.th day after the second leaf spray. The results are tabulated into FIGS. 6 and 7.

[0070] As shown in FIG. 6, the leaf area measured (in cm.sup.2) from the first to the fourth leaves, on the 21.sup.st day after KHP soil infusion are: 8.49+/0.53, 17.94+/0.75, 35.13+/1.87 and 45.66+/2.06 in the KHP-2 125 group; 7.75+/0.65, 17.88+/0.93, 33.15+/1.69 and 48.33+/3.07 in the KHP-2 250 group. All the measured figures with KHP solution infusion are better than the CK group's figures.

[0071] As shown in FIG. 7, the leaf area measured (in cm.sup.2) from the first to the fourth leaves, on the 12.sup.th day after second KHP leaf spray are: 8.81+/0.87, 18.57+/1.88, 34.18+/2.21 and 45.66+/2.06 in the KHP-1 500 group; 8.42+/0.81, 18.61+/1.1, 33.86+/2.23 and 42.78+/2.97 in the KHP-2 500 group. All the measured figures with KHP leaf spray are better than the CK group's figures.

[0072] The investors set a range of target height where tea leaves are harvested to measure the production yield of tea shoot in a unit area. Three groups are treated with KHP solution infused into the soil: CK, KHP-2 125 and KHP-2 250. Three groups are treated with KHP solution receiving leaf spray: CK, KHP-1 500, and KHP2-500. The CK groups are treated with water only, without any kind of KHP solution. The results are tabulated into FIGS. 8A, 8B and 8C.

[0073] FIG. 8A reflected the comparison of tea shoot weight per square meter when harvesting was done at the tea tree with KHP solutions, at height of 78 cm. The three groups on the left are treated with soil infusion (the CK group received water only). The KHP-2 125 group shows 0.078 kg per square meter; the KHP-2 250 group shows 0.147 kg per square meter. Both are higher than that of CK group, at 0.067 kg per square meter, at increase percentage of 17% and 121%. The three groups on the right are treated with leaf spray, the KHP-1 500 group shows 0.098 kg per square meter, the KHP-2 500 shows 0.089 kg per square meter. The KHP-1 500 group's tea shoot is 6% higher than that of the CK group.

[0074] FIG. 8B reflected the comparison of tea shoot weight per square meter when harvesting was done at the tea tree with KHP solutions, at height of 68 cm. The three groups on the left are treated with soil infusion (the CK group received water only). There is no discernible effect to the tea shoot production yield in the three groups on the left. The three groups on the right are treated with leaf spray, the KHP-1 500 group shows 0.598 kg per square meter, the KHP-1 500 shows 0.588 kg per square meter. The KHP-1 500 and KHP-2 500 groups' increase percentage are 16% and 15% respectively over that of the CK group.

[0075] FIG. 8C reflects the sum total of two tea shoot harvestings, with the three groups of soil infusion on the left and the three groups of leaf spray on the right. As can be seen, other than the KHP-2 125 infusion, other method of KHP applications all increased the tea shoot production weight, over the CK group, by 11%, 15% and 12%.

[0076] Based upon the tests and experiments done by the inventors, it is confirmed that application of the KHP solutions, at the dilution ratios and manner of application as disclosed herein, effectively increased the production of tea leaves without advancing the bud aging side effect.

[0077] While the disclosure herein gave limited teachings and embodiment examples, it should be noted that the description and disclosure made herein illustrated the preferred embodiments of the invention and are not meant to limit the scope of the applicant's rights. Variations and alterations may be employed for yet additional embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention herein.