Growth and Development Behavior and Seasonal Changes of Seed Oil Composition of Camellia tenuifolia (Hay.) Coh.
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Huang, Yu-Chun
Abstract
Camellia tenuifolia (Hayata) Coh.-Stuart is an endemic shrub of the Theaceae family native to the evergreen broadleaf forest in northern and central Taiwan. The oil extracted from the seeds is called camellia tea seed oil. According to the oil content and nutrient component change throughout the fruit growth process, this study attempts to look in to the basic growth characteristics and analyze the composition of C. tenuifolia seeds in order to establish optimum harvest timing for commercial production. Terminal buds and upper axillary buds are usually mixed buds. The accessory buds among mixed buds can develop into flower buds after initiating. Based on the observation, the flower developing stage can be divided into 16 stages. Perianth primordia, stamen primordia and carpel primodia take 2-3 months to organize in stage 2-6, when the length and width of flower buds are less than 6 and 3 mm. Flowers mature, color and bloom in stage 7-16, which takes 1-2 months. After stage 12, length and width of flower buds become greater than 8 and 5 mm, with the flowers ready to bloom in 2-3 weeks. The whole flower developing process takes 4-5 months for flower development. C. tenuifolia fruit needs one year to grow. The fruit diameter, height, fresh weight and total seed diameter growth patterns fit a double sigmoid growth curve during fruit development, while the pericarp thickness growth pattern fits a single sigmoid growth curve. One mature fruit weighs around 4.5 g, and is about 2 cm in diameter and height. Each fruit has maybe 3-5 carpels and most of the fruits have 2-3 seeds. There is only 1 seed in most carpels. C. tenuifolia shoots three times a year. Spring shoots grow in March, and flower buds of spring shoots and winter shoots from the previous year start to develop in May. Summer shoots will grow on the nodes where flower buds abort. Full bloom and fruit set stage start in October. Abundant fruit drop occurs in 10-30 days after flowering. The first rapid growth period starts in January, and is followed by the suspended growth period in March to April. Fruit grow and the size increases rapidly starting from May, and reaches maturity in September to November. Along with seeds maturation, moisture decreases but the total oil content, amount of oleic acid (C18:1), linoleic acid (C18:2) and palmic acid (C16:0) increases. However, the percentage of palmic acid among camellia tea seed oil decreases during seeds maturation. The result shows that mature camellia tea seed oil is mainly composed of oleic acid (C18:1) 72.33%, linoleic acid (C18:2) 13.39% and palmic acid (C16:0) 10.19%. As the result, the most appropriate harvesting time of C. tenuifolia in northern Taiwan is from mid October to November in order to get fruits with highest oil content and unsaturated fatty acid for tea seed oil production.
Subjects
flower development
growth curve
growth cycle
camellia tea seed oil
fatty acid composition
Type
thesis
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