Development and prospects of the walnut industry in China.

摘要

China is one of the world's centers of origin for walnut, with a cultural history of over 2,000 years. China possesses abundant walnut resources, including wild resources and breeding germplasm. Over the past fifty years, China has made some big achievements in improving walnut cultivation. These include new high quality varieties and advances in grafting techniques making the new varieties widely cultivated rapidly. Walnut exports started in 1921 from China. China was the biggest walnut export country in the world for a time. Nuts and kernels were the main export products. Presently, China is the global leader in walnut plantings. However, as a walnut export country China is No. 2, next to the United States. At present, the processing of walnut still focuses on rough processing, while little is done on further and fine processing. The main processed products are nutritional health foods such as walnut oil, walnut milk and walnut powder, as well as artworks. There are many resources and varieties of walnut in China, but most of these exist in decentralized operations, and levels of cultural management and further processing are relatively low. Requirements for walnut and its products increase year by year both in the domestic and oversea market. Therefore, the development potential for the walnut industry in China is very large. Further research on improved cultivation and processing techniques is needed in order to enhance market competitive ability.