RRII 208

RRII 208 is a rubber clone the Rubber Research Institute of India has identified for the non-traditional rubber tracts of the north-east, where winter temperatures fall lower and some tracts have a marked dry season. It establishes and grows better than the standard traditional-belt clones under those conditions, with a medium-to-high yield.

Plant typeBudded clone
MaturityPerennial — 6–8 years to first tapping in the north-east, then tapped for ~25–30 years
Yield potentialMedium–high in non-traditional conditions
Disease resistanceSelected for hardiness in the north-east
SoilWell-drained hill and foothill soils of the north-east
SeasonAll seasons

• Sowing timePlant early in the monsoon in the north-east so the young plant is well rooted before winter cold
• Seed rateNot a seed crop — about 445 budded plants per hectare at normal spacing
• Spacing4.9 × 4.9 m (about 445 trees/ha); local layouts vary with terrain
• Sowing methodPlant into pre-dug pits with a cover crop and shelter planting on exposed hill sites; mulch heavily against the dry season
• IrrigationLife-saving irrigation or heavy mulching for immature trees through the first dry seasons in the drier north-eastern tracts
• FertilizerGraduated immature NPK-Mg mixtures; a mature-rubber mixture after opening, adjusted to the north-eastern soils
• HarvestingReaches tappable girth in about 6–8 years in the north-east; tapped on a system suited to the shorter frost-free tapping window there

Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.

• Tripura
• Assam
• Meghalaya
• Nagaland
• Manipur
• Mizoram

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• RRII 414

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• RRII 417

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• RRII 430

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• RRII 429

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• GT 1

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• PB 260

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• PB 217

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• RRIM 600

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