The fact that rubber can be extracted not only from trees, but also from a special kind of dandelion "kok-sagyz" has long been known. In a number of countries, including Germany, successive experiments on the cultivation and processing of the "rubber dandelion" were carried out. Now German researchers from the Julius Kühn Institute intend to take breeding plants to the next level

Scientists from the Julius Kühn Institute, participating in the DandelionBase project, want to combine all the experimental data on the cultivation of "kok-sagyz" (botanical name Taraxacum koksaghyz) into a single database, says Johanna Fry in an article published on the portal Agrarheute.com.

This will help you understand what the conditions for optimal crop production look like in terms of irrigation, fertilization, and so on.

“Unlike rubber trees, dandelions tolerate our temperate climates well, contain a significant amount of rubber in milk juice, do not require additional fertilization and can be harvested within a year after sowing,” says Katja Thiele, who oversees the dandelion project at the Julius Institute. Kuehn.

The scientists also plan to use molecular markers to identify plants with a higher biomass and a higher rubber content for further breeding.

The Julius Kühn Institute is studying the economic potential of the kok-saga dandelion in collaboration with Contintental Reifen Deutschland GmbH and the Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology. Fraunhofer.

In 2018, Continental introduced tires made from local dandelion rubber, and similar tires developed at the Taraxagum laboratory in Anklam were nominated for the German Future Prize in 2021.

agrarheute.com