The tung tree, a type of energy plant species native to southern China, is famous for its production of industrial oil. It is valued for tung oil, which is derived from the seeds of the tree. Tung oil is a kind of high-quality raw material for processing biodiesel. The traditional way of cultivating tung trees, however, limited the development of tung oil industry and aggravated the loss of top soil, which leads to the decline of soil fertility. Consequently, the traditional way of cultivating tung trees affected agricultural production as well as the ecological environment.

Through the cooperation between Researcher ZHANG Quanfa and Assistant-researcher WANG Weibo, both at Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, a new way of cultivating tung trees by utilizing a kind of special nutrition bag has been invented. This nutrition bag settles the problems of topographical slop and soil depth limitation and triples tung tree’s growing region. The bio-carbon, straw particle and tung bran in the nutrition bag improves the structure and fertility of the soil. The water retaining agent in the nutrition bag settles the problem of water scarcity in the dry season, which lowers the irrigation cost by 80%. In addition, the nutrition bag also inhibits the growth of the weeds around the tung tree.

This invention solved the problems of low survival rate, limited growing region, and poor growth of the tung tree. Meanwhile, it also formulated several proposals to resolve the conflict between weeding and soil erosion. The invention is significant for the development of tung tree plantation and the protection of ecological environment.

This invention has received a Chinese invention patent, the patent number is No. ZL 200910273351.9.

Vernicia  fordii (Image by WANG Weibo)