Hevea brasiliensis

Deroose Plants lab produces exact copies of selected elite mother plants with the desired specifications as high yield and tolerance to disease or wind damage.

Exact copies

Deroose Plants lab produces exact copies of selected elite mother plants with the desired specifications as high yield and tolerance to disease or wind damage. Tissue culture technology rejuvenates the plant material resulting in vigorous growth.

Latest developments

Deroose Plants R&D uses the latest developments in tissue culture. Juvenile micro-cuttings of rubber trees can be produced on a large scale. The resulting plants develop a taproot system, grow faster compared to grafted trees and early tree maturity is expected.

Support industrial farmers

Deroose Plants wants to support industrial farmers as well as smallholders by supplying customized elite young plants resulting in high-yielding crops while limiting use of natural resources such as water and soil.

Innovation

To reach our goal, we created a platform for breeders, scientists and research institutes worldwide, striving for continuous innovation in tissue culture solutions and biotechnology.

Tested in the field

Tissue culture plants produced at the Deroose Plants laboratory in Belgium have been used in field trials. More than 500ha of in-vitro rubber trees were planted and tested in Africa and Asia. Our tissue culture plants have been successfully tested in Cambodia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Gabon.

Certified

Young plants are planted and monitored till maturity. Product analysis is done and certified through an independent body. The results demonstrate better performance and growth by tissue culture trees and, as expected from previous observations in field experiments, higher yields.

Grafted tree ( with elephant foot )

Tissue culture tree ( on its own roots )

Advantages of tissue culture rubber trees

Tissue culture trees grow on their own roots. They have a conical trunk and grow faster than grafted 'elephant foot’ trees. It makes sap stream through the plant much easier and rubber production more efficient.

Crop uniformity : less tree-to-tree variation in rubber yield

Drastic yield increases up to 50%

Early tapping… might start one year earlier than conventional

Early tapping tests show Dry Rubber Content of tissue culture trees is 1% higher than grafted ones

Latex quality is maintained

A cleared plantation will provide about 2 times more wood volume from tissue culture trees than from bud-grafted trees

Healthier plantation for less maintenance cost and higher yield :

Evidence of higher drought tolerance by tissue culture trees

Better anchorage, reducing rate of wind damage

Survival rate in year 1 in the field is higher; this reduces the replanting effort

Hevea brasiliensis

Hevea brasiliensis is a species of rubberwood that is native to rainforests in the Amazon region of South America, including Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador. From there, the species was introduced to countries in the tropical belts of Asia and Africa during the late 19th century. Cultivated on plantations in the tropics and subtropics, especially in Southeast Asia and western Africa, it is the primary source of natural rubber (NR) to date.

The rubber tree

The rubber tree has a soft wood, high branching limbs and a large area of bark. The milky liquid (latex) that oozes from any wound to the tree bark contains about 50 percent rubber, which can be coagulated and processed into solid products, such as tires. Latex can also be concentrated for producing dipped goods, such as surgical gloves.

Key component of tyres

Natural rubber is a key component of tyres typically variating from 12 to 35% content depending on the type of tyre and tyre application. Natural rubber is indispensable for the performance of the final tyre product and is not interchangeable with synthetic rubber without significant loss of functionality. Therefore, NR is of strategic importance for the tyre industry, with 70% of the total natural rubber being consumed by the automotive industry.

Economic value of Natural Rubber

An estimated 10 million people regularly collect rubber, either as a full-time job or as a major sideline to farming. Most of these people live in South and Southeast Asia.

Natural rubber plays an important role in economic growth and sustainable development of a country. The tree also serves as a source of timber, fuel and shade-tree on many farms.

To have a successful rubber plantation, high quality starting material is key to plantation and agricultural farmers. Elite plant material is the best way to secure a long-term sustainable revenue for small farmers as well as large agro-industrial tropical plantations.

Deroose Plants

We are a platform for breeders, scientists and research institutes worldwide, striving for continuous innovation in tissue culture solutions and biotechnology, to provide best plant genetics to plant growers.

Rubber at Deroose Plants

Our Technology From the Lab to the Plantation

  1. Explants

    ...

  2. Embryo formation

    ...

  3. Germinated embryo

    ...

  4. Tissue culture plants produced

    ...

  5. Hardening Greenhouse

    ...

  6. Hardening Greenhouse

    ...

  7. Nursery

    ...

  8. Field

    ...

Hevea - Higher yield, faster

We Deliver Elite & Calibrated Young Plant Material

Deroose Plants has experience with tissue culture micropropagation and acclimatization of Hevea brasiliensis since 2008
Deroose Plants is the first and only company developing and mass-producing a wide range of rubber clones by tissue culture micropropagation
About 500 ha of invitro rubber trees planted in Africa and Asia
Plants developed in our laboratory in Belgium are already "in vitro hardened "and perfectly autotrophic, only requiring a 4-month period of acclimatization in a dedicated greenhouse to be ready for planting
Long-time experience with distribution and logistics all around the world

Contacts

For more information

...
Reginald Deroose

CEO Deroose Plants Group

...
Don Deng

Sales & Marketing Manager
Asia-Pacific

...
Paul Deroose

Managing Director USA