clones

Rubber has been grown for several decades in Africa, notably in Ivory Coast. Although the yields obtained with selected clones are good, some prob-lems with adaptation to edaphic and climatic condi-tions have yet to be solved. Of these problems, tree breakage due to violent winds during frequent storms is a major handicap. Some clones are more resistant to wind damage. However, this resistance trait remains dif®cult to measure, and detecting it at an early stage appeared important. As no differences have been found in the physical properties of the wood of different clones, the search for differences between clones displaying resistance and suscepti-bility to wind damage was switched to architectura