US agricultural biomaterials company Yulex Corporation has opened a Seed & Genetics Centre focused on plant breeding, molecular genetics and development of agronomic best practices to support the global cultivation of sustainable guayule plantations for medical, consumer, industrial and bioenergy applications.
Yulex says its centre will support the global commercial development of guayule. Guayule plant improvement strategies include novel, non-GMO cultivar development methods which bridge the gap between classical plant breeding approaches and modern molecular technologies; the combined programem is designed to maximise plant productivity for large-scale deployment and commercial production of this important new industrial crop. Additional research activities at the centre involve the refinement of sustainable production techniques designed to improve guayule’s rubber yield and quality through natural processes, with a focus on soil management and natural crop production inputs.
As part of Yulex’s global licensing programme, which has started with ENI’s Versalis in Europe, licensees will have access to commercial quantities of guayule seeds developed by the Yulex Centre to establish crops in new regions. Yulex says it has the capability to rapidly expand, harvest and to clean commercial volumes of Certified Guayule Seed. Yulex and Yulex’s licensees plan significant global guayule acreage expansion.
The centre will provide on-going R&D, coordinate with local Universities in new growing areas, and support commercial guayule programmes. “
Jeff Martin, CEO/President/Co-founder of Yulex, says that guayule does not compete against food or fibre crops. “It is a renewable source of natural rubber that can replace petroleum-based synthetics, and requires low inputs. The centre directly administers and coordinates Yulex’s recently announced agricultural partnerships to improve guayule for commercial production. Work with the University of Arizona applies classical breeding to existing Yulex guayule lines and selected outliers. SGB provides an accelerated breeding program to develop new varieties that produce high yields of rubber under diverse environmental conditions,” he added.