Breeding Improvement of Rubber Yield in Guayule

摘要

Summarized are recent studies in the breeding improvements of rubber yield in guayule. Breeders working for the Emergency Rubber Project developed a number of cultivars from which seed was preserved and stored by USDA. These activars, augmented by new collections from Texas and Mexico, serve as the germ plasm base for recent breeding programs. Topics covered in this report include: Breeding for high rubber yield and improved adaptation in guayule; observation on the distribution and ecology of native guayule populations in Mexico; harvesting and cleaning of bulk guayule seed; guayule propagation and growth under greenhouse conditions; interspecific hybridization; evaluating resistance in verticillium wilt disease in species of Parthenium; Phytophthora root rot disease and other pests of guayule culture; distribution of rubber and comparative stem anatomy of high and low rubber guayule from Mexico; and growth studies of cultivated guayule.