Plantation of rubber tree in bangladesh.

1. Rubber production technology

2. INTRODUCTION
• Rubber Plant a flowering plant belonging to Euphorbiaceae, a plant
family of which many members produce latex. Commercial rubber is
produced from the latex of the plant Hevea brasiliensis. The plant is a
tall slender tree which is native to South America but has been
introduced and widely cultivated in South-east Asian countries such
as Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and parts of West Africa. Rubber is
tapped from the tree as a white latex by making a slanting cut about a
few milimetre deep in the bark of the trunk through which the latex is
extruded. Hot humid climate with plenty of sunshine is suitable for
rubber plantations. A rubber plant takes about 12 years to reach the
tapping stage.

3. ORIGIN & DISTRIBUTION
▪Rubber had long been in historical plant. Since Columbus had
discovered America in 1495 (509 years ago), Red Indian ,
ancient tribe of South of America, called it ' Caoutchoue ' .
Meaning is Crying Tree.The reason is that when it is cut off
with knife or sharpen tools, its natural latex automatically
comes out as a tear of tree.
▪A native to Brazil rubber was introduced to India in 1873 and
its commercial cultivation started in 1902.In Bangladesh
commercial cultivation started in 1960.

4. Hevea brasiliensis

5. Botany
➢Perennial
➢Monoceious
➢Cross-pollinated
➢Fruit -capsule

6. Soil
• It prefers well drained porous soils which are moderate to highly
acidic in nature.
• Soils must have a minimum depth of 1 m without any intervening
hard pan or impenetrable layer.
• Water table should be well below 1 m to ensure good aeration for
root penetration.
• PH-(4.5-6)

7. AGRO CLIMATIC REQUIREMENTS
➢Rainfall >2000 mm
➢Temperature (25-28*c)
➢Humidity-80%
➢Sunshine – 6hrs/day
➢Weather condition –warm and moist

8. Propagation is done by seed and Budding.
LAND PREPARATION & LAYOUT:
• The area selected should be cleared of wild growth.
• Silt pits of dimension 120x45x60 cm may be taken along the contour at suitable intervals to
check erosion and to conserve water.
• Square planting is suitable for level and near level lands. Rectangular system with planting lines
oriented in the East West direction can be adopted in flat lands and slopes.
• In undulating and hilly areas, planting should be done in rows across the slope along the contour
lines.
• The planting density recommended is 420 to 500 plants per hectare.
PROPAGATION:

9. Spacing
Planting material Spacing (m) Population / ha
Budded plants
Hilly areas 6.7X3.4 445
Plains 4.9X4.9 420
Seedlings
Hilly areas 6.1X3.0 539
Plains 4.6X4.6 479

10. Manuring
For immature rubber plant at pre-tapping stage:
Apply 12 kg of compost or FYM and 120 g of rock phosphate in each pit
before planting.
Apply 400 kg of mixture/ha in 2 doses,once in April/May and another is
September/October from the 5th year till the tree is ready for trapping.

11. Mature rubber trees under tapping
• For mature rubber trees under trapping apply NPK 10:10:10 grade
mixtures at the rate of 900g/tree(300 kg/ha) every year in two split
doses.Add 10 kg commercial Magnesium sulphate for every 100 kg of
the avobe mixture if there is magnesium deficiency.

12. Pruning
• Pruning to a height of 2.0-2.5m allows the development of a smooth
trunk without branches or large scars.
• In polybag budding; allow the plant to grow without branches until
2.0- 2.5 m from union, then prune.
• Pruning also allows the development of a balanced canopy.
• Maintain 4-5 well-spaced branches to avoid wind damage.

13. Inter-cropping
In the first two years the land area is not fully occupied by the rubber
plants and the inter spaces can be utilized for growing inter crops
which do not interfere with the growth of rubber plants.
The common inter crops cultivated in rubber plantations are
banana, pineapple, tuber crops, ginger, turmeric, vegetables and
medicinal plants.

14. Rubber Inter cropping with casava

15. DISEASES
Abnormal leaf fall
Symptoms
During southwestmonsoonperiod, the fruits rot.
Later, infected leaves fall in large number
prematurelyeither green or after turningcoppery
red with a drop of latex often coagulatedin the
centreof a blacklesiononthepetiole.
Control
Prophylactic spraying of the foliage prior to the
onset of southwest monsoon with 1% Bordeaux
mixture (3000-4000 l/ha) or oil based copper
oxychloride(30-40 litres of CDC-oil mixture / ha
mixedin 1:5 proportion)is recommended.

16. Bark rot (Phytophthoraspp.)
Symptoms
During rainy season, when trees are tapped,
depressionsare formed in the tapping panel due to
localizedrotting and drying bark. Black vertical lines
running downward into the tapping bark and
upwardsintothe renewedbark are noticed. The bark
whenrenewedbecomeshighlyuneven.
Control
The tapping cut and nearby bark should be washed
with mancozeb (0.375%) or phosphorous acid
(0.08%) at weekly intervals. The rotten bark may be
scraped off and applied with fungicide and then
covered with petroleumwound-dressing compound.

17. TERMITE
Practice good sanitation inplantation.
Destroyearlycoloniesof termites.
Regularly inspect termite tunnel sand
destroythem.

18. ROOT-FEEDING GRUBS
Do not apply insecticides since the
grubshavemanynatural enemies.
Use polybags in raising rubber
seedlings to prevent grubattack.

19. HARVESTING & YIELD
• Hevea latex found in the latex vessels contains 30-40% rubber in the
form of particles. Latex is obtained from the bark of the rubber tree
by tapping.
• During the 6 th year the requisite trunk girth of about 50 cm will be
reached. At this age the tree will be ready for tapping, the yields
increasing gradually up to 11th year when they will stabilize.
• The year wise yield parameters considered from the 6 th year to the
11th year is 900, 1300, 1500, 1800 and 2000 kg per ha respectively
beyond which the yield is the same. For working out the economics,
the economic life of a rubber tree is considered as 25 years.

20. • Speed of tapping: A rubber tree with a trunk circumference of 50 cm
can be tapped using half spiral for a maximum of 10 seconds only.
• Depth of tapping: As the number of latex vessel rings are greater
towards inside, tapping must be deep enough to severe as many latex
vessels as possible. However, to avoid damage to the cambium, 1 mm of
the bark should be left untapped.
• Time of tapping: The best month to open new areas for tapping is
March. It is necessary to commence tapping early in the morning as late
tapping reduces the exudation of latex.

21. Latex
• LATEX VESSELS
• These are found in the tree’s soft bark. They are modified sieve tubes (cells formed by the cambium and
coalescing when the dividing cell walls disintegrate) running anti-clockwise in concentric cylinders at an
angle of approximately 30° to the vertical axis of the stem (which is why tapping is done invariably from
top left to bottom right in order to cut the vessels at a right angle). Matrola(latex meter) used to measure
% of rubber.
• COMPOSITION OF LATEX
• Rubber particles (25-40% of total latex volume), variable in shape, but usually pear-shaped or spherical,
and about 6 nm to 5 micron in size;
• Lutoids (10-20%), 0.5 nm to 3 micron in size, having an impact on the stability and flow of the latex;
• Frey-Wyssling particles (5%) which play probably a role in the coagulation and oxido-reduction processes;
• Other elements like proteins, resins, sugars, glycosides, tannins, alkaloids, mineral salts, and secondary
metabolites.

22. 500
1,900
15,000
13,500
5,500
11,400
21,900
44,400
5,000
9,500
6,900
30,900
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
45000
50000
1978-1979 1989-1990 1999-2000 2009-2010
Rubber production,consumption and import in
Bangladesh(in metric ton)
Total production Total Consumption Import