Irrigated guayule — Plant growth and production

• Published in: Agricultural water management Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 81 - 93
• Main Authors: Bucks, D.A., Nakayama, F.S., French, O.F., Rasnick, B.A., Alexander, W.L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.01.1985; Elsevier Science; Elsevier
• Series: Agricultural Water Management
• Subjects: Agricultural and forest climatology and meteorology. Irrigation. Drainage; Agricultural and forest meteorology; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; Water balance and requirements. Evapotranspiration; Water; Irrigation; Vegetals; Laticiferous plant; Growth; United States; Compositae; Latex; Arid region; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Water consumption; Industrial crop; Spermatophyta; Yield; Arizona
• ISSN: 0378-3774; 1873-2283
• DOI: 10.1016/0378-3774(85)90036-8

Guayule ( Parthenium argentatum Gray) has the potential to alleviate future natural rubber shortages and to provide economic benefits to people in arid lands. A study was initiated to obtain information on guayule plant growth and rubber production as influenced by water management and water use. Annual guayule rubber yields from 2-year-old plants were as high as 500 kg/ha for a whole plant harvest and 300 kg/ha for clipped plants cut 100 mm above the ground using present cultivars under a wet irrigation regime in central Arizona. The clipped plants, when allowed to continue growing, will provide another harvest in 1 or 2 years with a cumulative yield that could be greater than a single harvest of 4-year-old plants. Rubber yield from the wet was twice that of the dry irrigation treatment. Plant height, volume and weight, leaf area, and resin yield were also higher on the wet treatment and decreased in a uniform manner from the wet to dry. Conversely, rubber concentration was higher in the drier than in the watter treatments. Rubber concentration was also higher in the branches than in the roots of the plant. Plant biomass was observed to be closely related to plant height, plant volume, or crown diameter in young plants so that biomass production can be predicted from these plant parameters. Seasonal growth and production patterns also indicated optimum whole plant harvest dates would be from February to March or October to November of each calender year.