Effect of ethephon stimulation on natural rubber latex properties; new insight into ethephon stimulation

Stimulation based low intensity harvesting (LIH) systems are accepted all over the world as an agronomic tool to overcome issues such as high cost of production, worker scarcity and low economic lifespan of trees in rubber plantation industries. When developing a protocol for ethephon stimulation, yield levels were concerned regardless of the effect on associated latex quality parameters. Therefore, this study elucidated the effect of ethephon on dry rubber yield and associated latex quality parameters together with latex rheological behaviour and physiological parameters. Five stimulation levels of ethephon (1 − 5 %) were investigated with RRIC 121 genotype under S/2 d3 (tapping half of the spiral once in three days frequency) harvesting system with unstimulated latex as the control. The results revealed that all the properties studied were significantly affected by the ethephon concentration and maximum yield with optimum properties could be achieved with the application of 3 % ethephon under S/2 d3 harvesting system.