Resin production of Grindelia accessions under cultivation

RAVETTA, D.A.; ANOUTI, A; MCLAUGHLIN, S

Industrial Crops and Products

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 1996 vol. 5 p. 197 - 201

0926-6690

In the early 1980’s, Grindelia camporum (Asteraceae) was proposed as a potential resin crop for arid lands. A fieldexperiment was conducted in Arizona to evaluate eight Grindelia accessions that included two accessions of G. camporum(native to California’s Central Valley, and known to differ in earliness of flowering), Grindelia stricta var. platyphylla andG. stricta var. stricta (both native to saline estuaries in northern California), and four accessions of Grindelia chiloensisfrom the coastal region of southern Argentina. Two plots were established in September 1994, with a total of 2176plants.Crude resin (CR) content was highest for all four accessions of G. chiloensis, with the tetraploid accessions havingthe highest CR contents. G. camporum and G. stricta var. platyphylla were intermediate in CR content. CR content inG. stricta var. stricta was 3.3%. In general, CR contents were lower than previously found for these species. A possibleexplanation for this is a reduction in resin production due to high water and nutrient availability.Biomass production was significantly different among accessions. The highest biomass production for the first harvestwas found for G. stricta var. platyphylla (517 g/plant). The two tetraploid accessions of G. chiloensis (accessions 333and 336) yielded around 200 g/plant. Biomass production of the tetraploid accessions of G. chiloensis was significantlyhigher than that of the diploid accessions of the same species. This yield was about one-half of that for G. camporum.Grindelia stricta var. stricta biomass production was the lowest of the eight accessions (119 g/plant). At second harvest(November 1993, individual plant biomass was equal to or smaller than the first harvest for most accessions except forG. chiloensis 297 and 336. When biomass production and resin content were combined for both harvests, G. chiloensistetraploid accessions emerged as the highest resin yielding genotypes.Keywords: Argentina; Arid and semiarid lands; Arizona; Grindelia camporum; Grindelia chiloensis; Grindelia stricta;New crops; Resin