What are the planting and management methods for Camellia oleifera?

The Camellia oleifera tree has a long lifespan and strong adaptability, and can grow on hills, mountains, beside ditches and roadsides. In recent years, tea oil, as a high-grade edible oil, has broad prospects for comprehensive processing and utilization. So what are the planting and management methods for Camellia oleifera? What are the planting prospects and economic benefits of Camellia oleifera?

I. What are the planting and management methods for Camellia oleifera?

1. Selection of forest land

In hilly, mound and plain areas below 500 m in altitude, choose sunny land with a slope of less than 25 degrees, deep soil layers, loose and fertile soil, moist and well-drained acidic soil to plant Camellia oleifera (pH 5-6). Try to avoid choosing high mountains, long steep slopes, shady slopes and waterlogged low-lying land.

2. Seed selection

For Camellia oleifera seed collection, four checks must be done well: patch selection, tree selection, fruit selection and seed selection, choosing fresh, high-quality seeds that are large, plump, with blackish-brown seed coats, free of disease spots and glossy. For seed storage, note that after the tea fruits are collected, they must not be piled up and composted, nor exposed to the sun; they should be spread thinly in a well-ventilated, dry place to let them crack naturally and thresh, and the seeds should be air-dried indoors for storage. Generally, wet sand is mostly used for stratifying and storing them on the ground, and cellar storage can also be used.

3. Careful land preparation

Carry out land preparation in the summer and autumn of the year before afforestation. In mountainous areas, one year before land preparation, cutting and controlled burning must be carried out; land preparation methods include full land preparation, strip land preparation and block land preparation, and suitable methods should be adopted according to local conditions.

4. Seedbed preparation

In suitable planting places, dig holes for seedbed preparation at a spacing of 2 m × 3.3 m; first level the direct-seeding site into a 40 cm × 40 cm platform, then dig a long small hole 10-15 cm deep on the inner side of the platform, in order to help store water and prevent drought.

5. Dibbling

Place 3 seeds in the small hole in the platform, scattered in a triangle; note that the seeds must be pressed close to firm soil to help the seeds absorb water and germinate. After sowing, cover with shallow soil, the covering soil should be fine, and cover with straw or rice straw to prevent birds from pecking the seeds and to prevent water evaporation. In addition, to prevent damage by animals and rats, seeds can be mixed with chemicals.

II. What are the planting prospects and economic benefits of Camellia oleifera?

Because Camellia oleifera is mostly planted in mountainous areas and has strong disease resistance, the oil extracted from it also has characteristics such as being safe, green and pollution-free, strong disease resistance, nutritious and health-protecting. As people's living standards continue to improve, the demand for high-end edible oil has gradually increased. As “Oriental olive oil”, tea oil has an unsaturated fatty acid content as high as 90%, and its oleic acid and vitamin E contents are 7% and 1 time higher than those of olive oil respectively. In addition, it has a unique aroma, is resistant to storage, is not prone to rancidity, has nutrients close to the proportions needed by the human body, does not produce carcinogenic aflatoxin, and is easily absorbed by the human body. Long-term consumption can lower serum cholesterol levels and has effects such as preventing and treating hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, Camellia oleifera seed cake can be used to extract tea saponin, make polishing powder and compound feed, and the tea shell can be used to extract furfural, tannin materials and make activated carbon. After processing, these extracts can be used in the catering industry, industry, medicine, cosmetics, health products, processing catalysts and other industries. It can thus be seen that deep-processed Camellia oleifera products have relatively high added value, broad utilization value and broad market prospects.

According to market conditions, the cost of planting Camellia oleifera is below 1500 yuan per mu. In the first 1-3 years of young forest, there is no economic benefit; fruiting begins in the 4th year, and the annual yield increases exponentially, with the full fruit period lasting 50-70 years. Fresh Camellia oleifera fruit yields 5440 kg per mu per year, at a price of 2.2 yuan/kg, giving an income of nearly 10,000 yuan per mu; Camellia oleifera seed yield is 2-8 times that of rapeseed, and 1 hectare can produce 3 330-12000 kg of Camellia oleifera seeds per year. The market price of edible tea oil is 3-5 times that of rapeseed oil. The export trade price is relatively high: in Japan it is 7.5 times that of rapeseed oil, and in the United States market it can reach 12 USD/kg. Therefore, the economic benefits of Camellia oleifera planting are very considerable.