Abstract:
Rubber plant (Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex A. Juss) Mull. Arg.) is one of
commercial commodities in Riau Province that distributed at several plantation centers
such as Bengkalis Regency, Kampar, Kuantan Singingi, Meranti, and Rokan Hulu. The
propagation of rubber plants in long period of time causes variety in latex production.
Nowdays, most of the rubber plantations in Riau Province use unstandardized seedling
that result in diverse and low latex production. The first way to increate latex production
is to identify the morphological characters related to latex production. This research was
aimed to find out the characters that had correlation with latex productivity level. This
research used exploration method. Samples such branches, leaves, and seeds from 10
rubber trees for each regency were collected, hence there were 50 samples were
analyzed. The sample collection was based on the production level. A total of 66
morphological characters were analyzed. Seven out of 66 observed character had a
correlation with latex production i.e. dense branch of tree, dense leaf of tree, dense leaf
of branch, length petiole of main leaf, length petiole of leaflet, length of leaf, and wide
of lamina. These characters can be used to select superior rubber plant.
