Bridgestone will accelerate the selection of rubber trees
Bridgestone in collaboration with the University of Indonesia, Yokohama City University, and Maebashi Institute of Technology (the last two universities are located in Japan) has begun research aimed at genetic analysis of the Brazilian hevea, the main global source of natural rubber, the tire company reported.
As part of the cooperation, data obtained from Bridgestone's rubber plantation in Indonesia will be combined with the partners' technologies to create a selection methodology that allows for the identification of "elite" trees (with high and stable yields) at an early stage. The so-called marker-assisted selection will be used, and promising trees will be identified at the germination stage, while genetic modifications are not planned, Bridgestone notes, adding that the new project should contribute to increasing the yield of plantations and ensuring stable rubber supplies in the future.
Bridgestone also states that the stability of natural rubber supplies is of key importance for the tire and, consequently, the transport industry, and although it is a renewable resource, hevea grows only in geographically limited regions near the equator and is susceptible to external factors such as climate change and diseases. At the same time, the number of vehicles in the world continues to grow, which means that the demand for natural rubber, necessary for tire production, is also increasing, and for this reason, as the company notes, "the most important task is to ensure stable rubber supplies without expanding agricultural land, which could lead to deforestation".
To solve this problem, Bridgestone is implementing various technological projects that help increase the productivity of rubber plantations in one way or another, for example, by diagnosing tree diseases or optimizing the planting scheme of rubber trees on limited areas using big data. In addition, the company supports small farms by introducing new technologies and conducting training using the knowledge gained from its own plantations.
As part of the new project, the latex of individual rubber trees grown on the PT. Bridgestone Sumatra Rubber Estate (BSRE) plantation will be transferred to partners, and the University of Indonesia will be responsible for obtaining genetic data, while the other two universities will analyze it to identify genes associated with increased plant yield. The goal of the scientists will be to create marker-assisted selection technology that will allow for quick and accurate selection of "elite" trees. It is expected that this approach will significantly reduce the time required for processes that took decades in traditional selection, and after testing the effectiveness of the technology and creating systems for growing seedlings, Bridgestone intends to replace all rubber trees with "elite" ones in the future, which "will help increase the productivity of plantations and stabilize yields in conditions of limited land resources".