Guayule
Encyclopedia
Parthenium argentatum, commonly known as the Guayule (icon or w, as in Spanish
), is a flowering
shrub
in the aster family, Asteraceae
, that is native to the southwestern United States
and northern Mexico
. It can be found in the US states of New Mexico
and Texas
and the Mexican states of Zacatecas
, Coahuila
, Chihuahua, San Luis Potosí
, Nuevo Leon
, and Tamaulipas
. The plant can be used as an alternate source of latex
that is also hypoallergenic
, unlike the normal Hevea
rubber. In pre-Columbian
times, the guayule was a secondary source of latex for rubber, the principal source being the Castilla elastica
tree. The name "guayule" derives from the Nahuatl
word ulli/olli, "rubber".
For sustainable production, guayule grows well in arid
and semi arid areas of the southwestern United States, North Central Mexico and regions with similar climates around the world. Because the guayule plant produces terpene
resin
s, which are natural pesticide
s, it is resistant to many pests and diseases. Herbicide
s are primarily necessary for stand establishment.
In the 1920s, the plant saw a brief and intense amount of agricultural research when the Intercontinental Rubber Company in California
produced 1400 tons of rubber after leaf blight decimated the Brazilian rubber industry. Guayule would again become a replacement for Hevea tree-produced latex during World War II
when Japan
cut off America's Malaysian latex
resources. The war ended before large-scale farming of the guayule plant began, and the project was scrapped, as it was cheaper to import tree-derived latex than to crush the shrubs for a smaller amount of latex.
Recently, the guayule plant has seen a small but growing resurgence in research and agriculture due to its hypoallergenic
properties. While Hevea
-derived rubber contains protein
s that can cause severe allergic reactions in a few people, guayule does not. With the AIDS
crisis of the 1980s, the surge in rubber glove usage revealed how many people were allergic to latex
(about 10% of health care workers, according to OSHA
), and thereby created a niche market for guayule. There are synthetic alternatives
for medical device products, but they are not as stretchable as natural rubber. Guayule performs like Hevea but contains none of the proteins that cause latex allergies.
Selection of high-yielding guayule is complicated by its breeding system, which is primarily apomixis
(asexual cloning via gametes). However, the breeding system is somewhat variable and considerable genetic variation exists within wild populations. Selection of high-yielding lines has been successful.
The company leading the commercialization of guayule as an industrial crop is Yulex Corporation, founded by Daniel R. Swiger. Yulex Corporation manufactures and produces guayule rubber for medical devices and specialty consumer products that are safe for people who have latex allergy. Yulex Corporation has cultivated proprietary, high-yielding lines of guayule with agricultural operations concentrated in Arizona
as well as some operations in Queensland
, Australia
. Yulex rubber is marketed as a cost-effective, clinically proven solution to the serious health risks posed by Hevea-derived latex products.
In April 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared for marketing the first device made from guayule latex, the Yulex Patient Examination Glove, which was submitted by Yulex Corporation.http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01822.html
Guayule's viability as a potential biofuel
has been enhanced recently in light of commentary from a variety of experts, including Lester R. Brown
of the Earth Policy Institute
, stating that "[food based] biofuels pit the 800 million people with cars against the 800 million people with hunger problems," meaning that biofuels derived from food crops (like maize
) raise world food prices. Guayule can be an economically viable biofuel crop that does not increase the world's hunger problem. Guayule has another benefit over food crops as biofuel - it can be grown in areas where food crops would fail.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
), is a flowering
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
in the aster family, Asteraceae
Asteraceae
The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...
, that is native to the southwestern United States
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
and northern Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. It can be found in the US states of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and the Mexican states of Zacatecas
Zacatecas
Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....
, Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...
, Chihuahua, San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí officially Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí....
, Nuevo Leon
Nuevo León
Nuevo León It is located in Northeastern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east, San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León has a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S...
, and Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...
. The plant can be used as an alternate source of latex
Latex
Latex is the stable dispersion of polymer microparticles in an aqueous medium. Latexes may be natural or synthetic.Latex as found in nature is a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants . It is a complex emulsion consisting of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins,...
that is also hypoallergenic
Hypoallergenic
Hypoallergenic, meaning "below normal" or "slightly" allergenic, was a term first used in a cosmetics campaign in 1953. It is used to describe items that cause or are claimed to cause fewer allergic reactions...
, unlike the normal Hevea
Para rubber tree
Hevea brasiliensis, the Pará rubber tree, often simply called rubber tree, is a tree belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae, and the most economically important member of the genus Hevea...
rubber. In pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
times, the guayule was a secondary source of latex for rubber, the principal source being the Castilla elastica
Castilla elastica
Castilla elastica, the Panama Rubber Tree, is a tree native to the tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. It was the principal source of latex among the Mesoamerican peoples in pre-Columbian times...
tree. The name "guayule" derives from the Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
word ulli/olli, "rubber".
For sustainable production, guayule grows well in arid
Arid
A region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
and semi arid areas of the southwestern United States, North Central Mexico and regions with similar climates around the world. Because the guayule plant produces terpene
Terpene
Terpenes are a large and diverse class of organic compounds, produced by a variety of plants, particularly conifers, though also by some insects such as termites or swallowtail butterflies, which emit terpenes from their osmeterium. They are often strong smelling and thus may have had a protective...
resin
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
s, which are natural pesticide
Pesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
s, it is resistant to many pests and diseases. Herbicide
Herbicide
Herbicides, also commonly known as weedkillers, are pesticides used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often synthetic "imitations" of plant...
s are primarily necessary for stand establishment.
In the 1920s, the plant saw a brief and intense amount of agricultural research when the Intercontinental Rubber Company in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
produced 1400 tons of rubber after leaf blight decimated the Brazilian rubber industry. Guayule would again become a replacement for Hevea tree-produced latex during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
cut off America's Malaysian latex
Latex
Latex is the stable dispersion of polymer microparticles in an aqueous medium. Latexes may be natural or synthetic.Latex as found in nature is a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants . It is a complex emulsion consisting of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins,...
resources. The war ended before large-scale farming of the guayule plant began, and the project was scrapped, as it was cheaper to import tree-derived latex than to crush the shrubs for a smaller amount of latex.
Recently, the guayule plant has seen a small but growing resurgence in research and agriculture due to its hypoallergenic
Hypoallergenic
Hypoallergenic, meaning "below normal" or "slightly" allergenic, was a term first used in a cosmetics campaign in 1953. It is used to describe items that cause or are claimed to cause fewer allergic reactions...
properties. While Hevea
Hevea
Hevea is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is also one of many names used commercially for the wood of the most economically important species H. brasiliensis.-Selected species:* Hevea benthamiana Müll.Arg....
-derived rubber contains protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
s that can cause severe allergic reactions in a few people, guayule does not. With the AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
crisis of the 1980s, the surge in rubber glove usage revealed how many people were allergic to latex
Latex allergy
Latex allergy is a medical term encompassing a range of allergic reactions to natural rubber latex.-Type I:The most serious and rare form, type I is an immediate and potentially life-threatening reaction, not unlike the severe reaction some people have to bee stings...
(about 10% of health care workers, according to OSHA
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress of the United States under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970...
), and thereby created a niche market for guayule. There are synthetic alternatives
Synthetic rubber
Synthetic rubber is is any type of artificial elastomer, invariably a polymer. An elastomer is a material with the mechanical property that it can undergo much more elastic deformation under stress than most materials and still return to its previous size without permanent deformation...
for medical device products, but they are not as stretchable as natural rubber. Guayule performs like Hevea but contains none of the proteins that cause latex allergies.
Selection of high-yielding guayule is complicated by its breeding system, which is primarily apomixis
Apomixis
In botany, apomixis was defined by Winkler as replacement of the normal sexual reproduction by asexual reproduction, without fertilization. This definition notably does not mention meiosis...
(asexual cloning via gametes). However, the breeding system is somewhat variable and considerable genetic variation exists within wild populations. Selection of high-yielding lines has been successful.
The company leading the commercialization of guayule as an industrial crop is Yulex Corporation, founded by Daniel R. Swiger. Yulex Corporation manufactures and produces guayule rubber for medical devices and specialty consumer products that are safe for people who have latex allergy. Yulex Corporation has cultivated proprietary, high-yielding lines of guayule with agricultural operations concentrated in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
as well as some operations in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Yulex rubber is marketed as a cost-effective, clinically proven solution to the serious health risks posed by Hevea-derived latex products.
In April 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared for marketing the first device made from guayule latex, the Yulex Patient Examination Glove, which was submitted by Yulex Corporation.http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01822.html
Guayule's viability as a potential biofuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...
has been enhanced recently in light of commentary from a variety of experts, including Lester R. Brown
Lester R. Brown
Lester Russel Brown is a United States environmental analyst, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C...
of the Earth Policy Institute
Earth Policy Institute
Earth Policy Institute is an environmental organization based in Washington DC in the United States. It was founded by Lester R. Brown in 2001...
, stating that "[food based] biofuels pit the 800 million people with cars against the 800 million people with hunger problems," meaning that biofuels derived from food crops (like maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
) raise world food prices. Guayule can be an economically viable biofuel crop that does not increase the world's hunger problem. Guayule has another benefit over food crops as biofuel - it can be grown in areas where food crops would fail.