WP3. Determination of the predictive value of Hevea genetic resources in Indonesia

This WP3 aims to characterize the rubber recommended clones in Indonesia and a new progeny for physiological parameters related to latex production, tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress as well as rubber and wood properties. These traits will be used to select rubber clones corresponding to the ideotype defined by socio-economic and agronomic issues raised in WP1 and WP2, as well as the most resilient rubber-based cultivation systems in a context of global changes.

The objective of this WP is to class the rubber clones according to their agronomic and physiologic capacities in order to facilitate the selection of material for further on-farm large-scale trials, which will be established after the present project. The traits will be selected for matching with the cropping systems identified by stakeholders (WP1) and with a potential tolerance to predicted environmental constraints (WP2). The Hevea germplasm consists of wild Amazonian core-collection of 100 accessions, 14 recommended clones and progenies under selection. The predictive value of rubber clones will be determined from data of long-term large-scale clone trials in various contrasting areas. Besides, the current GA-TPD project deals with the phenotyping of a segregating population of 200 genotypes (clone PB 260 ♀ x clone SP 217 ♂), which is being analyzed in controlled conditions and in a small-scale clone trial (5 replicates of 2 copies = 2,000 trees = 5 ha) planted in November 2016. A fine genomic and phenotypic characterization of a progeny under selection will provide new candidate clones based on traits not characterized above such as physiological parameters related to latex production, tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress as well as rubber and wood properties. Genetic and genomic analysis of these traits will enable further marker-assisted selection applications.