Rubber latex is extracted from rubber trees. The economic life period of rubber trees in plantations is around 32 years – up to 7 years of immature phase and about 25 years of productive phase. The soil requirement of the plant is generally well-drained weathered soil consisting of laterite, lateritic types, sedimentary types, nonlateritic red or alluvial soils. Cultivation The climatic conditions for optimum growth of rubber trees consist of (a) rainfall of around 250 cm evenly distributed without any marked dry season and with at least 100 rainy days per year (b) temperature range of about 20°C to 34°C with a monthly mean of 25°C to 28°C (c) high atmospheric humidity of around 80% (d) bright sunshine amounting to about 2000 hours per year at the rate of 6 hours per day throughout the year and (e) absence of strong winds. Many high-yielding clones have been developed for commercial planting. These clones yield more than 2,000 kilograms of dry rubber per hectare per year, when grown under ideal conditions The use of rubber is widespread, ranging from household to industrial products, entering the production stream at the intermediate stage or as final products. Tires and tubes are the largest consumers of rubber. The remaining 44% are taken up by the general rubber goods (GRG) sector, which includes all products except tires and tubes Other significant uses of rubber are door and window profiles, hoses, belts, matting, flooring and dampeners (antivibration mounts) for the automotive industry in what is known as the "under the bonnet" products. Gloves (medical, household and industrial) and toy balloons are also large consumers of rubber, although the type of rubber used is that of the concentrated latex. Significant tonnage of rubber is used as adhesives in many manufacturing industries and products, although the two most noticeable are the paper and the carpet industries. Rubber is also commonly used to make rubber bands and pencil erasers. Many aircraft tires and inner tubes are still made of natural rubber due to the high cost of certification for aircraft use of synthetic replacements. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : Manufacture of rubber products |