Development of oil ideotype in selected provenances of Jatropha curcas L.
2009
Vallesteros, S.F.
Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) is one of the most promising feedstocks for large-scale production of biodiesel. Research has been directed towards identification of provenances that will give higher seed yield and oil content and in the development of an ideotype, a plant model that is expected to produce a desired quantity and quality of products derived from it under a specified environment. Four provenances from the Philippines were planted in Mt. Makiling in Los Baños, Laguna, namely: Bacolod, South Cotabato, Talisay and Davao to assess their growth and yield performances. The Davao provenance performed poorly in terms of growth and yield, while the three other provenances performed similarly in height, crown diameter and number of first order branches. Based on an ordinal ranking scheme using a number of yield variables, the South Cotabato provenance appeared to be the highest yielding provenance. However, the first-year seed yields of all the provenances were much lower compared to those figures reported in literature. Eight trees from each provenance except Davao were selected from among the experimental plants to examine tree-to-tree variation and to specify an ideotype based on seed yield and oil content. Variability was large in all morphological traits, the highest being in length of unbranched stem (CV = 46.51%) and number of first order branches (CV = 33.72%). Seed yield was positively and significantly correlated with basal diameter, length of unbranched stem, and crown diameter. Variability was small in fruit and seed traits. Crown diameter appeared to be a predictor (P0.05) of three seed size parameters, namely: length, breadth and thickness. Among the seed traits, seed length was significantly correlated (r
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