Research and Development
Research and Development
Jatropha curcas – background information
Scientific name: Jatropha curcas
Common names: Physic nut, purging nut
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Origin: Mexico/ Central America
- Occurs wildly in almost all tropical and sub-tropical countries of the world
Perennial shrub
- Grows up to about 5-6m height
- Grows well in warm tropical climates
- Plant is drought tolerant, adaptable and thrives on nutrient poor soils
- Flowering and fruiting seasonal usually connected to the rainy seasons
- Fruits containing 2-4 seeds, usually 3
- Dry fruit weighs about 2.5g, 60% weight seeds and 40% weight fruit husk
- The seeds contain about 37.5% by weight shell, 30-40% oil and the rest mostly protein
Two varieties of Jatropha curcas occur naturally:
- Conventional non-edible jatropha plants
- and a phenotypically similar, but edible variety called Xuta, which lacks compounds called phorbol esters present in the non-edible varieties.
Traditional uses: fence plant around small farms, medicinal purpose, edible variety (called Xuta in Mexico) used as human food in Mexico
Pollination is by insects, usually honey bees
The Jatropha plant, even the edible variety, is non-edible to grazing animals, but honey produced from it is edible
Conventional, non-edible Jatropha plants are familiar backyard and fence plants in many countries and people are familiar with it and its non-edible nature.
Jatropha plantation products
Pruned biomass:
To keep the plants at a height of about 2m, pruning would be required every year. Depending on plant nature and size between 1.5 and 5kg dry matter would be generated from 1 plant through pruning. And if the branches are left to decompose on the ground, the soil not only stores additional CO₂ but also becomes more fertile, enabling even greater future carbon sequestration or food production.
Jatropha fruits fractions:
The major production item from the jatropha plantation are the fruits. They yield the following fractions on processing.
Freshly harvested fruits
Dried fruits – 3 days of sun drying
Fruit Husks
The processing
The seeds form 60% /w of the dried fruits. They can be mechanically shelled into Shell and kernel.
Jatropha shell (mechanically shelled) forms about 37.5% of the dry seed. It has a high energy content of 18MJ/kg and is a good burning fuel.
Kernel forms about 62.5% of the dry seeds and can be crushed to separate oil and kernel meal.
Jatropha oil forms about 60% w/w of the kernel and is an ideally fuel oil and feed stock for bio-diesel and bio-aviation-fuel. Edible jatropha oil has potential to become an ideal edible oil.
Average fatty acid composition (%) of Jatropha curcas seed oil
Typical physical/chemical properties of Jatropha curcas seed oil
15 Years of research & development
Key objectives
Produce superior quality jatropha seeds through selection and breeding
Develop genetic tools for marker assisted selection and scalable F1 Hybrid seed production
Develop robust techniques for seed processing, especially edible jatropha seed processing
Development of edible jatropha into a viable oil and protein crop
Seeds with high oil and protein contents
Resistance to diseases
Seed processing techniques to deliver the products – mainly oil and defatted kernel powder
Highlights
Developed high yielding seeds of edible and non-edible jatropha varieties
F1 Hybrid and synthetic seeds of the non-edible variety
High performance elite cultivar and synthetic seed of the edible variety under the brand name XutaTM
Pioneering the introduction of Xuta as a viable protein and oil crop for challenged areas
Scalable F1 hybrid production systems using pistillate mother plants
Identification of a genetic marker for distinguishing the edible jatropha from non-edible in collaboration with university and private partners
Identification of accession specific genetic markers for the elite cultivars in collaboration with partners
Seed processing techniques to deliver the products – mainly oil and defatted kernel powder
Developed high yielding seeds of Moringa oleifera of leaf, pod and mixed varieties
Detailed elite cultivar profiling and yield trials completed
Production facilities for seed production established
Selection and Breeding of Jatropha
JATROPOWER processes one of the most diverse jatropha genotype collections as seen below.
Branching variety
Straight growing variety
Short, Open Canopy, Heavy Flowering
Short, Closed Canopy, Heavy Flowering
Typical leaf shape, closed canopy
Broad leaved, open canopy
Broad leaved, closed canopy
Umbrella type canopy
Erect type
Different flowering types
Different flower types
Different fruiting natures
Three seeded and 4 seeded fruits
Seeds with different size, weight and oil content
Methodology
The different genotypes have been evaluated under similar conditions at three different locations over the last 10 years in terms of:
- Seed yield
- Seed morphology and characteristics
- Oil content of seeds
- Nature of plants – stature, canopy structure, flowering and fruiting behaviour
- Resistance to key diseases, e.g. root rot
- Resistance to drought
- Effect of different agronomic interventions – spacing, pruning, fertilisation, irrigation, dense planting
Genetic analysis based on state-of-the-art analysis techniques in collaboration with two world renowned public research institutes
- Identification of accession specific markets for the different genotypes
- Identification of genetic markers for the edible nature of jatropha+
- Determination of genetic distance between the genotypes
- Linkage between key characters to specific markers
In collaboration with engine manufacturers, JATROPOWER has worked on the development of scalable, robust and affordable machinery to allow optimal processing of jatropha seeds.
Results
Suitable elite accessions were selected for purification and cultivar development. These elite cultivars are being marketed and has performed well under client conditions (evidenced by repeat orders from all clients that have been supplied so far)
Identification of compatible elite parent plants for the F1 hybrid programme
“Crossing-in” of the pistillate character into selected parents – in progress
Establishment of dedicated Seed Production Farms for production of elite cultivars
Establishment of the first 2 jatropha F1 Hybrid seed production farms
Identified markers that are clearly linked to the edible character of jatropha
Linkage of key jatropha characters to markers for accelerated marker assisted breeding
Apomixis in Jatropha curcas
Some genotypes of Jatropha curcas shows the interesting property of apomixis (development of seeds from female flowers without fertilisation).
In collaboration with its university partners, JATROPOWER has evaluated this among its genotypes and found some that show a high degree of apomixis.
JATROPOWER has discovered that this property is a very interesting tool for genetic improvement of jatropha curcas.
The daughter plants derived from seeds developed through apomixis from a single parent plant has shown a very high degree of variability.
Apomixis Daughter plant 2 from apomixed seeds of the same parent as plant 1
Apomixis Daughter plant 1 from apomixed seeds
