Question

Explain the following - The propagation of rubber by the bud grafting method.

Answer 1

Hint: Rubber or natural rubber initially at the stage of production, contains polymers of organic compound isoprene and minor impurities of other organic compounds, and some water. In modern days, rubber is harvested in latex form from the rubber tree or other very similar kinds of trees. The latex is a sticky, milky colloid drawn from cutting the bark in a particular manner and collecting the latex fluid in vessels through the process of tapping.

Complete Answer:
Bud grafting is done by inserting a strip of bark consisting of buds from high yielding clones under the bark of a young seedling till they become united in three to four weeks. The old seedling is then cut off above the grafted bark which then grows to form a new rubber plant.
Budding is a very popular method of grafting using buds from selected mother plants to grow new rubber plants or plants alike. It is a very popular and useful vegetative method which is practised by the rubber planters to have much more yield. The budded stocks are ready to be cut off in four weeks after budding. They are cut 10 - 15 cm above the bud patch and the leftover parts are pulled out and transplanted in the main field that is selected for the new rubber plant to grow. Rubber is almost entirely propagated through bud grafting of modern high-yielding clones. The process of bud grafting is done on the seedlings when they are two to eight months old using green or brown dormant bud patches collected from selected clones.

Note: There are two types of the budding that are recognised depending on the colour and age of the seedlings. They are brown budding where the seedings are about 10 months old and green budding where the seedings are about 2-8 months old. Rubber is a commercial plant used extensively by all the countries of the world, thus its production should be huge to meet the demand. Hence, bud grafting is an important method by which rubber plants can be grown easily and quickly.