Latex and Natural Rubber

A research team from Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences has developed and validated a liquid single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chip named “HbGBTS80K,” which includes 80,080 SNPs evenly distributed across 18 chromosomes. This SNP chip effectively distinguished 404 rubber accessions into four groups in population genetic diversity analysis and detected the major gene HbPSK5 in GWAS for the number of laticifer rings. The HbGBTS80K chip is a valuable tool for accelerating functional studies and molecular breeding in rubber trees, addressing the inefficiencies of traditional breeding methods.

The soon-to-rise facilities in Zamboanga Sibugay—which gained reputation as the “Rubber Capital of the Philippines” for its 80,000-hectare rubber production—shall serve as important facets of the DA-PRRI’s research, development, and extension functions as well as the implementation of its initiatives for the Philippine rubber industry.

Their series of studies, conducted across Hainan Island, focused on rubber plantations—a key economic tree species in the region. The results, published in three separate journals, shed light on the complex interplay between parent material, microbes, and soil processes.

In their first study published in Geoderma Regional, the researchers showed how the underlying rock layer, known as parent material, affects the balance of key nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in the soil. They found that basaltic soils, formed from volcanic rock, had a higher phosphorus content but lower nitrogen levels than marine sedimentary soils.

With disease and high demand posing threats to the world’s primary natural rubber supply in Southeast Asia, scientists are working to ramp up the U.S. rubber market by advancing methods to extract latex from two sustainable North American plant sources: a dandelion species and a desert shrub.

Researchers reported their methods to improve efficiency and increase latex yield in two recent publications, building upon decades of research led by Katrina Cornish, professor of horticulture and crop science and food, agricultural and biological engineering at The Ohio State University.

The Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI) has introduced three groundbreaking rubber varieties—RM 001, RM 002, and RM 003—to address persistent challenges in the country’s rubber industry.

With locally cultivated rubber trees experiencing low latex yields, these varieties have the potential to transform commercial rubber farming in Bangladesh.

The genesis of this breakthrough lies in BFRI’s long-term mission to revive the dormant rubber industry. Cloned from high-yielding rubber trees in Malaysia, the newly developed varieties thrive in two soil types—sand and loam—and require minimal fertilization.