Increased rubber production from thickly seeded guayule
1946
Kelley, O.J. | Haise, H.R. | Markham, L.C. | Hunter, A.S.
At two interior valley and two coastal locations in southern California factorial experiments were conducted to study the effects of variations in spacing (density of plant stand), irrigation, fertility, and clipping (at two locations) treatments on tons of shrub per acre, percentage of rubber, and pounds of rubber per acre produced by guayule grown from seed for periods ranging from 19 to 23 months. A maximum yield of 1,336 +/- 77 pounds of rubber per acre was obtained in 21 months from seed. At each of the four locations the most favorable factorial treatment resulted in yields of more than 800 pounds of rubber per acre. In all cases increased density of stand resulted in greater rubber production. The application of increased irrigation water resulted in increased rubber production at the two interior valley locations, decreased rubber production at one site near the ocean, and had no significant effect at the other. In general, the application of fertilizers did not increase rubber production. The clipping of plants was detrimental. The results of this experiment indicate that for maximum rubber production by guayule dense stands of plants are to be recommended, especially for short-cycle production. The optimum irrigation and fertility treatments are closely related to soil and climatic conditions.
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