Rubber is a cash crop which grows well in tropical regions,especialy in Kerala and Sri Lanka.The soil and climate of the region makes is suitable for rubber to grow well in these region.
Rubber has its origin in Brazil.The tribal people there called the tree as 'hevea'.It has its scientific name as 'Hevea brasiliensis'.
Natural rubber among the family of rubbers has a wide varity of industrial and domestic use.
Cultivation : The rubber tree is sturdy ,fast growing and tall.A warm tropical climate and evenly distributre annual rainfall of about 200 cm provide optimum condition for its growth.The tree has well develped tap root and laterals.The latex is found in almost all parts of the tree but taken especially from the bark.
Harvesting and Processing :
Tappinng : Latex is obtained from the bark of the rubber tree by wounding during which the thin shaving of bark are removed.It is done to cut open the latex vessels.
The bark has an innner layer of soft bast,an intermidiate layer of hard bast and outer protective layer of cork cell.The latex vessels are concentrated in soft vessels.They are arranged in a series of concentric rings of interconnecting vessels.The number of distribution of latex vessels and the proportion of hard bark show wide variation among clones.
Tapping is done on trees that have attained a girth of 50 cm at 125 cm height from bud union.Tapping is done using special knives.The general recommendation system of tapping is 'half spiral'.Latex is a hydrosol containing 30-40% rubber in the form of particles.Rubber is a polymer of CIS 1,4 poly isprene units.Besides rubber particles,latex contains other particles such as lutoids.
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