Potential new primary clones of Hevea evolved by ortet selection in India

An ortet selection programme for selection of elite mother trees of rubber (hevea brasiliensis muell. arg) from among the seedlings of the gough garden (gg) series viz.,ggl.gg 4 and gg 6 of the prang besar isolation (pbig) gardens in malaysia was undertaken in a large estate in central kerala,south india. the resultant 47 preliminary selections of ortet clones were cloned and evaluated during the first five years of tapping in small scale trials in the same location. the parameters for evaluation were yield and yield components,growth attributes,timber yield,bark anatomical parameters and incidence of leaf diseases. significant variation was observed for the traits studied. based on the data on yield,growth and timber characteristics,11 promising new primary clones were selected. six clones,viz.,ko 27,ko 25,ko 6,ko 9,ko 7 and ko 16 were identified as high rubber yielders. four clones viz.,ko 7,ko 13,ko 22 and ko 31 exhibited a high timber yield potential. out of the eleven selections,four clones viz.,ko 27,ko 7,ko 9 and ko 11 were promising in terms of rubber and timber yield. the superiority of the ortet clones with respect to yield and secondary characters are discussed.