Abstract
This study was conducted to understand the effects of weather and tapping date on yield and quality of lactree(Rhus verniciflua) sap yield showed a significant positive correlation with the minimum temperature of one day before sap collection at 1% level and with theminimum humidity of theday of sap collection at 5% level. However, the differences between the maximum and the minimum temperatures and humidities of the day of sap collection were negatively correlated with the sap yield at 5% level. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the minimum temperature of one day bofore sap collection and the minumum humidity of the day sap collection were important factors for increasing sap yield. The high sap yield of lactree by Japanese tapping method was recorded during mid-July and early August. Seasonal variation in lactree sap constituents was observed. The sap collected on 15th of August contained the highest urushiol content (68.3%) and the lowest water content resulting in high quality of lactree sap. By reversed-phase HPLC analysis, fove urushiol components were separated from each other depending on the number of doulbe bonds in the side-chain , and seaxonal variation of urushiol composition was noticed. The 3-C15 triene content fo the sap collected on 5th of July was the highest(77.56%) indicating the major component of urushiol which affects lactree sap quality.