China still accounts for at least 70% of global tung oil production annually, but over time production has spread to various other countries (see Table 10.1).
Can Tung seed be used in other commodity oilseed crops?
The recalcitrance of this tung seed activity to traditional purification methods quickly led to a revised approach wherein the necessary genes from tung could be identified, studied in model systems in the laboratory, and then introduced into other commodity oilseed crops with amenable agronomic characteristics.
What is a tung tree?
The oils produced from the seeds of the tung tree (also known as the China wood oil tree) [ Vernicia fordii (Hemsl.) and Vernicia montana (Lour.)] (previously Aleurites fordii and Aleurites montana) ( Govaerts, 1966) occupy an important niche in the industrial vegetable oils market.
Can tung oil be used as an industrial commodity?
The high reactivity and ease of crosslinking via the conjugated double bond system present in the ¦Á-eleostearic acid-rich seed oils continue to present new and exciting opportunities to use tung oil as a valuable industrial commodity.