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Kuruvadi, S., A. López Benitez, and F. Borrego. 1993. Evaluation of rubber and resin content in lines of guayule collected from Nuevo Leon province in Mexico. p. 343-345. In: J. Janick and J.E. Simon (eds.), New crops. Wiley, New York.

Evaluation of Rubber and Resin Content in Lines of Guayule Collected from Nuevo Leon Province in Mexico

Sathyanarayanaiah Kuruvadi, Alfonso López Benitez, and F. Borrego

  1. METHODOLOGY
  2. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
  3. REFERENCES
  4. Table 1
Guayule (Parthenium argentatum, Gray) is the most promising source of natural rubber for domestication in the semiarid regions of Mexico and the native populations are distributed in the northcentral provinces. The wild collections made from this area form the basic material for identifying high yielding rubber lines and gene reservoirs for superior agronomic characters. The purpose of this study was to evaluate 36 indigenous collections of guayule made in the province of Nuevo Leon and to identify high yielding rubber lines and localities where potential rubber genotypes existed.

METHODOLOGY

Thirty-six accessions from local germplasm of guayule were selected based on desirable plant characters such as vigor, plant height, plant spread, and stem diameter. These collections were originally made from three districts in the province of Nuevo Leon in Mexico namely: 21 collections from Dr. Arroyo; 2 from Arramberi; and 12 from Galeana. The seeds of these accessions along with a control selection (G.11605) were soaked in running water for 8 h and treated and germinated according to the procedure of Naqvi and Hanson (1980) for breaking seed dormancy. Twelve day old seedlings were transplanted individually into polyethylene bags containing about 300 g of sieved and fumigated soil. Seedlings were irrigated twice a week. After 65 days of growth in the greenhouse, the seedlings were transplanted into the field at the Dryland Experimental Station, Ocampo, Coahuila, using a spacing of 80 cm between rows and 100 cm within the row. Each accession was transplanted into a single row 10 m long, using a randomized block design with two replications. Plants were irrigated immediately after transplanting; further growth depended on natural precipitation.

The data were obtained from five plants at random when the plants were approximately 32 month old. The lowest branch from each plant was sampled for rubber and resin analysis using standard extraction procedure (Spence and Caldwell 1933).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Significant genetic differences were obtained in percent rubber, percent resin, plant height, and top diameter, indicating that a selection and breeding program could improve these traits. These results are in agreement with Tipton (1982), Kuruvadi (1985), Benitez and Kuruvadi (1987), and Kuruvadi (1991) who evaluated 158, 346, 45, and 38 guayule collections and reported significant differences between lines for these traits.

The percentage of rubber varied from 3.9 to 11.3 with a mean of 7.2 (Table 1). Accession 4142, yielded the highest rubber concentration (11.3%), followed by accessions 4144 (11.2%), 4437 (11.2%), 4592 (10.9%), and 4288 (10.6%). These accessions yielded higher rubber content than the control line G.11605 (9.1%). Variation in rubber concentration has been observed previously within and among populations (Tipton 1982; Naqvi 1985; Kuruvadi 1985). The collections from the district of Dr. Arroyo demonstrated highest rubber content when compared to other districts in the province of Nuevo Leon. Drought and cold stress stimulate rubber biosynthesis (Tipton 1982) while interspecific hybridization with mariola (Parthenium incanum H.B.K.) reduces rubber producing potential in the progeny. Resin, another major byproduct of guayule, ranged from 7.1 to 10.5 with a mean of 8.6%. Accessions 4599, 4093, 4409, 4175, and 4240 produced the most resin.

Many of the collections made from Trinidad and Tanquecillo of the district of Dr. Arroyo and El Salero and Boca del Refugio belonging to the district of Galeana yielded higher rubber content when compared to the other populations. Plant height was greatest in accessions 4448, 4380, 4338, 4597, and 4596 while, the largest top diameters were observed in accessions 4167, 4596, 4093, 4288, and 4488. The combination of desirable traits are not present in a single genotype, but are distributed in several genotypes. Hence, hybridization between accessions with the highest rubber concentration and those with greatest plant height and largest top diameter are recommended in order to obtain superior recombinants. Guayule rubber yields should be improved as well through single plant selection from highly vigorous plants in the native population.

REFERENCES

Table 1. Mean values for different agronomic characters in guayule.

District name Accession no. Rubber (%) Resin (%) Plant height (cm) Top spread (cm)
Dr. Arroyo 4175 4.8 10.1 44.5 75.6
4288 10.6 8.3 49.0 83.4
4488 4.7 7.4 51.0 81.1
4491 9.5 8.9 41.8 67.7
4492 9.3 8.7 43.5 69.0
4409 5.1 10.2 49.0 79.1
4437 11.2 9.1 39.0 70.4
4439 6.5 7.8 45.5 66.1
4442 7.3 7.8 37.5 65.7
4123 8.4 7.8 44.0 74.0
4142 11.3 8.5 38.0 63.1
4144 11.2 8.3 44.0 67.1
4161 5.6 7.8 42.5 80.3
4163 5.7 9.1 39.5 80.2
4167 4.9 7.2 49.5 86.9
4590 8.2 8.5 43.0 71.6
4592 10.9 7.4 38.0 61.9
4593 8.0 8.3 34.4 62.4
4596 4.1 8.5 49.8 84.2
4597 7.8 7.1 50.5 77.3
4599 7.1 10.5 35.5 67.1
Arramberri 4087 5.2 7.8 48.0 74.5
4093 3.9 10.3 41.0 84.1
Galeana 4240 5.3 9.9 47.0 79.5
4232 7.3 9.2 46.5 68.5
4233 7.6 7.6 40.5 63.3
4380 5.3 9.7 50.5 74.9
4384 4.9 9.3 45.5 70.5
4489 9.1 7.8 45.0 72.9
4338 5.7 9.3 50.5 68.2
4350 7.4 8.1 43.3 55.7
4354 4.5 8.2 40.5 70.1
4357 7.7 8.1 48.5 80.7
4308 4.9 7.3 47.0 79.6
4265 9.1 9.5 46.0 69.5
Check G11605 9.1 9.9 44.0 72.2
Mean 7.2 8.6 44.3 72.7

Last update April 18, 1997 aw