Camellia is one of the four woody oil crops in the world. The common name of Camellia is called by the tree species with higher oil content in the Camellia plant of Theaceae, which has a certain cultivated area. Except for a small number of countries such as Vietnam and Japan, Camellia mainly distributes in China. At present, the planting area in China mainland is about 4.6 million ha, and in Hainan that is about 6666.67 ha. Hainan local Camellia is called 'king of the king' because of its fragrant smell.

　　Research Department

　　Oil Camellia Research Department

　　Oil Camellia Research Department (OCRD), affiliated with Coconut Research Institute, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CRI, CATAS), was established in August 2010. As the only one national research institution of public service specializing in protection, development and utilization of Camellia in tropical region, OCRD is playing a leading role in research on camellia germplasm collection, evaluation, utilization and high-yield cultivation technology development, especially on introduction and breeding work, SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) cultivation and GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) base construction. A Camellia germplasm nursery has been established, preserving more than 40 cultivars from Vietnam, Guangxi Province, Jiangxi Province, Hunan Province and local regions. OCRD has undertaken more than 20 national key projects such as recommend international advanced agricultural science and technology plan (948 Program), Central research institutes of basic research and public service special operations, The natural science foundation of Hainan Province, etc. OCRD has completed the breeding of two new Camellia varieties named “Reyan 1#” and “Reyan 2#”, which are all adapted to the tropical environment. There are 6 research staffs in OCRD, including doctors and post doctorates. Overall, OCRD has a team of highly educated and energetic oil camellia research scientists.

　　Research Platforms

　　1.Oil Camellia Research Center, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences

　　2. Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Tropical Oil Plants, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, P.R.China

　　3. Hainan Key Laboratory of Tropical Oil Crops Biology

　　4. Introduction and breeding base for tropical oil crops, Hainan Province

　　5. Tropical Oil Crop Research Center, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences

　　Research Achievements

　　1. Camellia germplasm collection and conservation

　　A camellia germplasm nursery has been established, preserving more than 40 cultivars from Vietnam, Guangxi province, Jiangxi province, Hunan province and local regions.

　　2. Cultivar introduction and breeding

　　Based on selective elite breeding and cross-breeding, new cultivars and cultivation management origin. The variety series' demonstration and cultivation are carried out assisted by local people.

　　3. High-yield cultivation

　　New cultivars could be reproduced quickly by in vitro culture propagation, shoot cutting and seedling grafting, etc. The demonstration fields have been constructed in Wuzhishan, Qionghai, Wenchang, Ding’an and Danzhou.

4. Evaluation of germplasm resources of camellia in Hainan

We use transcriptome and metabolome methods to evaluate the germplasm of Camellia in Hainan. The result shows that the gene resource and component composition in seed is very different from other Camellia species from China mainland.