湖北林业科技

Abstract: To investigate the primary trait differences in natural seed drop among various Camellia oleifera varieties, ‘Changlin 3’, ‘Changlin 4’, ‘Changlin 18’, ‘Changlin 40’, and ‘Changlin 53’ were used as experimental materials to analyze their natural seed drop rates, oil content, and fatty acid composition at different stages. The results showed that ‘Changlin 40’ exhibited the shortest natural seed drop period (33 days) and peak seed drop period (8 days), with the highest natural seed drop rate of 44.97%, occurring earliest on October 31; ‘Changlin 3’, ‘Changlin 4’, ‘Changlin 18’, and ‘Changlin 53’ had natural seed drop periods ranging from 51 to 56 days; the natural seed drop oil content was highest between October 31 and November 4 for ‘Changlin 3, ‘Changlin 4’, ‘Changlin 40’, and ‘Changlin 53’, reaching 44.30%, 48.40%, 41.00%, and 42.65%, respectively; ‘Changlin 18’ achieved its peak natural seed drop oil content from October 26 to November 12 (43.60%); the oleic acid content in the natural seed drops of ‘Changlin 3’ and ‘Changlin 4’ followed a “decrease-increase-decrease-increase” pattern, while that of ‘Changlin 40’, ‘Changlin 18’, and ‘Changlin 53’ showed an “increase-decrease-increase” trend; the highest unsaturated fatty acid content in the natural seed drops occurred on October 21 for ‘Changlin 18’ and ‘Changlin 53’, on October 31–12 for ‘Changlin 40’, on October 21–25 for ‘Changlin 3’, and on October 11, October 21–25, and November 1–12 for 'Changlin 4’. In practical production, it is recommended that ‘Changlin 3’, ‘Changlin 18’, ‘Changlin 40’, and ‘Changlin 53’ be allowed to seed naturally before the peak sowing period, with manual harvesting conducted during the late sowing stage; for ‘Changlin 4’, manual harvesting should be performed between October 25–31. This approach enhances both the oil content of tea seeds and the quality of tea oil.