HORTSCIENCE 50(12):1830–1832. 2015. was planted in Folsom, LA, and selected in 1954 because of its late-flowering time and Vernicia fordii superior production values. Yield was calcu- ‘Spiers’, a New Tung lated from actual measures of nuts per tree in 1954, 1956, and 1957, and again in 1964 and Tree for Commercial Tung Oil 1968. Percent oil (w/f) was also calculated over the same time spans. Additional evalu- Production in the Gulf Coast Region ations were published by Spiers and Kilby in 1973 from replicated plantings that were 12 Timothy Rinehart1 and 14 years old. Yields were compared with Thad Cochran Southern Horticultural Laboratory, U.S. Department of ‘Isabel’, a popular cultivar in production at Agriculture—Agricultural Research Service, 810 Highway 26 West, Poplar- the time. Results demonstrate that L266 oil production (calculated as a percentage of ville, MS 39470 whole fruit and as pounds per tree or acre) Jay Shockey was comparable or superior to commercial cultivars and other late-flowering selec- Commodity Utilization Research Unit, U.S. Department of Agriculture— tions (Spiers and Kilby, 1973). Hundreds Agricultural Research Service, 1100 Robert E. Lee Boulevard, New Orleans, of tung trees were under evaluation from LA 70124 1939 through the 1960s. Only a small frac- tion of these breeding lines are maintained Ned Edwards and James M. Spiers by TCSHL in the germplasm collection Thad Cochran Southern Horticultural Laboratory, U.S. Department of (Table 1). Detailed breeding notes suggest Agriculture—Agricultural Research Service, 810 Highway 26 West, that L266 was an elite selection that was used Poplarville, MS 39470 to develop at least 11 different superior lines that were not preserved after the breeding Thomas Klasson program was discontinued in 1970. Commodity Utilization Research Unit, U.S. Department of Agriculture— L266 is similar to all other genotypes in the collection using simple sequence repeat Agricultural Research Service, 1100 Robert E. Lee Boulevard, New Orleans, (SSR) markers developed by Xu et al. (2012). LA 70124 Of the 22 SSR loci developed from Vernicia Additional index words. Aleurites fordii, tung oil tree, tung nut montana ESTs, eight demonstrated polymor- phism among V. fordii samples, but only between collection sites (Xu et al., 2012). Tung trees (Vernicia fordii Hemsl.) are Recent studies on the unique qualities of Vernicia fordii samples collected from the native to China and were grown in the U.S. tung oil have revived interest in domestic same geographic region produced identical Gulf Coast region, mostly U.S. Department of tung oil production as a specialty crop. Tung DNA fingerprints using these SSR markers, Agriculture (USDA) cold hardiness zones 8 and oil contains high levels of eleostearic acid, presumably because the loci that are cross- 9, for tung oil production from 1937 to 1969 a novel conjugated trienoic fatty acid that amplifying between species represent con- (Robb and Travis, 2013). Tung oil production contains highly desirable chemical properties served DNA that accumulate repeat length ranged from northern Florida to Texas during for the production of industrial products mutations more slowly than other noncon- the tung oil industry boom. Pearl River County including paints, varnishes, and wood finish- served regions. Therefore, these SSR loci are in southern Mississippi, where the USDA— ing products. There is also interest in domes- not useful for identifying cultivars or de- Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Thad tic tung oil production as a biofuels additive termining parentage, but could be used to Cochran Southern Horticultural Laboratory (Shang et al., 2012). Companies seeking to broadly estimate the diversity of the geno- (TCSHL) is located, had more than 60,000 acres reduce reliance on foreign imports and label types in the collection in relation to the of tung trees in production at one time. Industrial products as ‘‘Made in America’’ are also geographic range of the native populations tung oil use in the United States continues today, interested in domestic production of tung oil. in China. Our results indicate that the TCSHL but raw oil is imported, mainly from South To that end, researchers at TCSHL evaluated collection (Table 1) likely represents a single American orchards and China. There have been the germplasm collection for potential cultivar geographic region, or narrow gene pool, several attempts to revive tung tree farming in release(s) for commercial tung oil production since all of the samples had identical DNA the Gulf Coast region, but yearly production is in collaboration with small business partners. fingerprints (data not shown). The single substantially affected by weather, especially, An elite selection from the 1950s designated exception is the semisterile ornamental tung late frosts that reduce yields and high winds that L266 was identified, evaluated, and released tree ‘Anna Bella’, which was polymorphic at damage orchards. Replacement of tung trees to the public. five of the eight loci. This either indicates it is takes up to 5 years before new trees reach peak Cultivation from orchard plantings to from a different genetic location, or more production. At the current time, the most prom- tung nut harvesting by field labor or mechan- likely, that it is a hybrid between V. montana inent use of tung trees is for landscape purposes ical methods has been extensively researched and V. fordii, which would explain its re- including the recent release of ‘Anna Bella’, and recommended practices are still effective duced fertility. a nutless tung tree, from the TCSHL germplasm today (Potter and Crane, 1957). The most Original trees, including L266 that were collection (Rinehart et al., 2013). significant risk to tung tree cultivation is selected in the mid-1900s, were clonally damage to the bloom from late frosts in the propagated by bud grafting to evaluate pro- spring. Here we are publishing the release of duction traits. However, during preservation Vernicia fordii ‘Spiers’, a late-flowering tung of the tung germplasm collection after 1970, Received for publication 30 Sept. 2015. Accepted some selections were propagated by seed for publication 4 Nov. 2015. tree for commercial tung oil production in the Gulf Coast region. and may not reflect the original genotypes. Mention of trade names or commercial products in ‘Spiers’ represents an incremental improve- this article is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recom- Origin and Description ment in delayed flowering; however, it may mendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department be possible to make salutatory improve- of Agriculture. L266, a seedling of L92, was produced by ments in flowering and other horticulturally 1Corresponding author. E-mail: Tim.Rinehart@ open pollination in 1941 by the USDA-ARS important traits by using diverse germplasm ars.usda.gov. tung tree improvement research program. It in future breeding. Unfortunately, diverse 1830 HORTSCIENCE VOL. 50(12) DECEMBER 2015 genetic material is not found in the remain- a seed propagated line. While 80% to 95% of two replicates, the total oil content of L266 was ing tung tree collection at Poplarville, MS. the seed from open-pollinated mother plants slightly lower than that in L2, but the difference are expected to perform true to type, the was not statistically significant (unpaired t test, Outstanding Characteristics and Uses additional genetic variability incurred during P = 0.0628). However, there were some in- seed propagation may affect late flowering teresting differences in fatty acid composition Flowering time for L266 was estimated to performance of L266. Clonal propagation will observed between the two cultivars. Oleic acid be 2 weeks later than commercial cultivars ensure that late flowering and oil production was nearly twice as high in L2 as in L266 (9.2% (Spiers and Kilby, 1973). Bloom data from traits will be fully expressed. vs. 5.5%) and linoleic acid was also signifi- replicated plantings in Folsom, LA, that were Bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) mediated cantlyincreasedinL2(8.1%vs.6.0%).Most evaluated from 1954 to 1964 in the month of seed production of L266 was used for the oil importantly, a-eleostearic acid (ESA) content March support these results. Recent observa- analyses reported here (Fig. 2). The results of is significantly higher in L266 compared with tions suggest that the range of bloom times in the analysis of lipid content and composition in L2 (81.4% vs. 75.0%). The explanation for the the germplasm collection is only 16 d long ‘Isabel’ (L2) and L266 are shown in Table 2. increase in ESA in L266 oil is not yet known, (Fig. 1). On average, L266 blooms on day 11, The fatty acid compositions of total extractable but could either reflect higher levels of expres- which is not the latest flowering selection in seed lipids, dehulled lipid meat, and extracted sion of FADX, the gene that converts linoleic our collection, but similar or later than pre- oils were determined for both cultivars. The acid to ESA in developing tung seeds (Dyer vious USDA cultivars such as ‘Folsom’, composition of the oil samples closely reflected et al., 2002), or other enzymes downstream of ‘Isabel’, and ‘Gahl’. Because of the narrow that seen in the other samples; therefore, only FADX in the oil biosynthetic pathway, such as range in bloom time, we are releasing L266 for the oil fatty acid profiles in extracted oil are glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferases (Gidda clonal propagation by bud grafting instead of shown in Table 2. On the basis of the average of et al., 2011) or diacylglycerol acyltransferases (Shockey et al., 2006). Regardless of the Table 1. Tung (Vernicia fordii) germplasm at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)—Agricultural explanation, this finding, if consistently repli- Research Service Thad Cochran Southern Horticultural Laboratory in Poplarville, MS. cated under field conditions, is significant: ESA Name Cultivar Dates of original tree Pedigree is the unique component that provides the BR221 Planted 1962 (L14 · open, F578) · chemical utility (and therefore, the value) to (Vernicia montana · V.