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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Maricopa, Arizona » U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center » Plant Physiology and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #420595
Research Project: Developing Biofuels and New Industrial Crops for Sustainable Semi-arid Agricultural Systems

Location: Plant Physiology and Genetics Research

Title: Microcompounding of small samples of natural rubber

Author
item DEVNEY, ERIC - The Ohio State University
item POLYAK, PETER - The Ohio State University
item KASZAS, GABOR - The Ohio State University
item AMSTUTZ, NIKITA - The Ohio State University
item PUSKAS, JUDIT - The Ohio State University
item Cornish, Katrina
item MOLNAR, KRISTOF - The Ohio State University

Submitted to: Rubber Chemistry and Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/14/2024
Publication Date: 3/3/2025
Citation: Devney, E.P., Polyak, P., Kaszas, G., Amstutz, N., Puskas, J.E., Cornish, K., Molnar, K. 2025. Microcompounding of small samples of natural rubber. Rubber Chemistry and Technology. 98(1):78-89. https://doi.org/10.5254/rct.24.00033.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5254/rct.24.00033

Interpretive Summary: In this paper, we describe a new micro-compounding method used to characterize and compare cured natural rubber samples extracted from greenhouse-grown wild type and transgenic guayule (Parthenium argentatum). The new method allows testing of cured rubber samples from experimental variants and early screening out of genotypes making poor quality rubber and can be used to assess the impact of variations without requiring large numbers of plants.

Technical Abstract: In this paper, we describe a micro-compounding method used to characterize and compare cured natural rubber samples extracted from greenhouse-grown wild type and transgenic guayule (Parthenium argentatum). Latex was extracted from the ground branches of six shrubs of different ages and genotypes and coagulated into rubber samples. Size Exclusion Chromatography showed that there was a different molecular weight and oligomer and gel content for nearly every sample. Tensile tests of cured samples showed little variation in physical properties between rubber extracted from shrubs of different age within a genotype, but a larger variation among genotypes was found. The new method allows testing of cured rubber samples from experimental variants and early screening out of genotypes making poor quality rubber and can be used to assess the impact of variations.