Evaluating Guayule (Parthenium argentatum A. Gray) Germplasm Grown in Spain: Rubber and Resin along Three Production Cycles

Abstract

Rubber and resin are potentially important products of guayule (Parthenium argentatum A. Gray) that can assure the profitability of this crop as an agricultural alternative for the semi-arid areas of central and eastern Spain. This study analyzes, for the first time, the changes in rubber and resin production across 27 guayule accessions (traditional and modern) and along three cycles under the agroclimatic conditions of Castilla-La Mancha, simulating industrial management with a biannual harvest. The rubber content (% of dry mass) increased from 4.2% in one-year-old plants to 6.6% in two-year-old plants, but decreased after harvesting. Contrastingly, the rubber yield doubled in contiguous sampling, reaching a mean of 303.6 kg ha−1, with a maximum yield of 341.2 kg ha−1 after the first harvest. Three patterns of rubber production were established based on the production periods. A similar analysis was performed for resin production, which was heterogeneous across accessions belonging to the same rubber groups. In this case, three independent groups were established to classify the resin accumulation profiles following the same criteria of production periods. Here, we demonstrate that biannual harvesting has the potential to enhance rubber accumulation in summer, although more research is needed for its adaption to current harvesting techniques in this area.