RUBBER SEED OIL - THE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL SOURCE IN KARNATAKA, INDIA

Abstract

Rubber seeds constitute 25 to 30 per cent good fatty oil which is used as a major raw material in the manufacture of soaps. Karnataka with 7000 hectares of rubber plantation area and about 13 lakh trees is so far untapped for its seeds. It is expected to yield 660 tons of seeds during the current year and 1290 tons by 1984–85. The seeds collected from various rubber plantation divisions were extracted for oil and the oils were analysed for their fatty acid composition by gas liquid chromatography.