Known as "black gold", this tree is widely planted in Hainan →

The world cannot live without rubber, including national defense equipment, aviation and navigation, industrial and agricultural production, medical care... Natural rubber is the only renewable important global strategic material among the four major industrial raw materials and is known as "black gold".

In Hainan, rubber forests can be seen in many places. According to statistics, Hainan's rubber planting area and dry rubber output account for more than half of the country's total, making it the largest natural rubber production base in China.

Rubber trees like high temperature, high humidity, calm wind and fertile soil. They require an annual average temperature of 26-27℃. They can grow and produce rubber normally within the range of 20-30℃. They are not cold-resistant and will be damaged by frost at temperatures below 5℃. They require an annual average precipitation of 1150-2500 mm, but are not suitable for planting in low-humidity areas. They are suitable for growing in acidic sandy loam with deep soil, fertile and moist soil, and good drainage. They have shallow roots, fragile branches, poor adaptability to wind, and are easily affected by wind chill and reduced rubber production.

In order to break the international embargo, my country launched the "Northward Rubber Movement" in the 1950s. After years of efforts, it finally achieved large-scale planting of natural rubber north of 18 degrees north latitude. However, my country's rubber planting area is located on the northern edge of the tropics, with frequent cold waves and typhoons. Rubber trees are typical tropical crops, sensitive to low temperatures and strong winds. The introduced varieties are not resistant enough, and the rubber plantations are severely affected, and even large areas are scrapped.

"Breed new varieties that are cold-resistant, wind-resistant and high-yield." Aiming at this goal, the rubber tree breeding team of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Sciences has carried out technical research for 37 years. The team has bred 8 cold-resistant, wind-resistant and high-yield varieties, and achieved independent control of seed sources. Among them, the ultra-high-yield variety "Reyan 879" has the world's leading yield level and has been widely used in my country's light wind and light cold rubber planting areas, providing variety guarantees for high-yield rubber planting in the area.

New varieties support the continuous expansion of my country's rubber planting area. Since 1983, my country's rubber planting area has expanded from more than 7 million mu to more than 17 million mu, and the annual output of dry rubber has increased from 173,000 tons to 856,000 tons. Among them, the eight new varieties cultivated by the team account for 39.7% of my country's rubber planting area, with an additional output value of 25.21 billion yuan.

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