Abstract
A DETERMINED attempt to make Russia independent of imported rubber in a few years' time is being made by investigating the possibility of home-grown rubber, and by the manufacture of ‘synthetic rubber’; four factories are already engaged in the industrial production of the latter. Research on the growing of rubber is carried out at two rubber institutes working in conjunction with the Institute of Plant Industry. Expeditions have been sent out to search at home and abroad for suitable rubber-bearing plants, the indigenous flora having been particularly carefully surveyed. The three most promising plants so far appear to be Parthenium argentatum, Gray, Scorzonera tau-saghis, and Taraxacum gymnanthum, D.C. The first-named, the guayule, brought from Mexico, has been the subject of several investigations. This plant has several varieties, differing in rubber content, resistance to drought and cold, and also in the quantity and germination of seed produced; easy propagation by seed is important for the economical production of rubber from this type of plant.
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References
Nickolaev, Astrov and others, Bull. App. Bot., 22, 4; 1929; 2, 3, 1932, etc.
Nature [translation of the Russian title], 2; 1933.
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Rubber-Growing Research in the U.S.S.R. Nature 133, 539–540 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133539a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133539a0