Latex Production, Diagnosis and Harvest

Abstract

Latex is a colloidal suspension. Wikipedia explains that latex is a stable dispersion (emulsion) of polymer microparticles in an aqueous medium. Biochemically, latex is true cytoplasm. Generally speaking, it's a complex emulsion consisting of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins and gums that coagulate on exposure to air. Latex contains most of the subcellular elements that include, besides rubber particles, lutoids---an important vacuo-lysosomal compartment---(Pujarniscle 1968; Ribaillier et al. 1971; D'Auzac et al. 1982) (see Box 5.1), plastids, the Frey-Wyssling particles whose role is not clearly understood (Gomez 1979; Hebant 1981) and ribosomes (Coupe et al. 1976). However, neither the nuclei nor the mitochondria are expelled during tapping, probably because of their parietal position (Dickenson 1965) which makes investigations on nuclear and energy metabolism difficult.