Jojoba is considered a promising oil crop and is cultivated for diverse purposes in many countries. The jojoba seed produces unique high-quality oil with a wide range of applications such as medical and industrial-related products. The plant also has potential value in combatting desertification and land degradation in dry and semi-dry areas. Although the plant is known for its high-temperature and high-salinity tolerance growth ability, issues such as its male-biased ratio, relatively late flowering and seed production time hamper the cultivation of this plant. The development of efficient biotechnological platforms for better cultivation and an improved production cycle is a necessity for farmers cultivating the plant. In the last 20 years, many efforts have been made for in vitro cultivation of jojoba by applying different molecular biology techniques. However, there is a lot of work to be done in order to reach satisfactory results that help to overcome cultivation problems. This review presents a historical overview, the medical and industrial importance of the jojoba plant, agronomy aspects and nutrient requirements for the plant’s cultivation, and the role of recent biotechnology and molecular biology findings in jojoba research.

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This study was conducted to compare the effect of different detoxification methods on the composition and safety of defatted jojoba meal (DJM). Solvents, microwave, and microbiological (lactic acid bacteria, and bifidobacteria) treatments were used to detoxify and reduce the antinutrition factors in DJM. The results indicated that there were differences between treatments applied to detoxify DJM. Treatment of DJM with isopropanol and Lactobacillus acidophilus was able to reduce antinutrition factors and simmondsin. Detoxified‐DJM that contained lower levels of antinutrition factors and simmondsin were further evaluated by feeding studies using experimental animals. After 8 weeks of feeding studies, there were no statistically significant differences between animal groups fed on basal diet, isopropanol‐treated DJM, and Lactobacillus acidophilus‐treated DJM in terms of body weight gain and relative organ weights. The group fed on untreated DJM showed a decrease in total albumin, globulin, protein, and lipid profile. The activities of liver enzymes were increased indicating incidence of liver dysfunction. Groups fed isopropanol‐treated DJM and L. acidophilus‐treated DJM exhibited improvement in serum parameters (i.e., total lipids, total cholesterol, high‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol, triglycerides, and liver function enzymes with no potential adverse health/toxic effects. Histopathological examinations of liver, kidney, and spleen tissues of rats fed on detoxified DJM showed the same histological features as the control rats. In conclusion, isopropanol and L. acidophilus could be applied for detoxification of DJM. Isopropanol and L. acidophilus detoxified‐DJM could be recommended as a safe food or feed ingredient, since it had no potential adverse health/toxic effects. Practical applications This work described the effect of different methods for detoxification and degradation of antinutrition factors in DJM. The results indicated that the methods used, LAB and bifidobacteria, and isopropanol had high ability for detoxification of DJM. Lactobacillus acidophilus strain had the highest ability to reduce antinutrition factors and simmondsin. The incorporation of isopropanol‐treated and L. acidophilus‐treated DJM to basal diet had no potential adverse health/toxic effects. Therefore, isopropanol‐treated and L. acidophilus‐treated DJM could be recommended as safe food grade ingredients.

Seeds from six selected jojoba genotypes were used in this study. Seed samples were analyzed for oil, protein, total carbohydrate, and simmondsin contents. The genetic relationships among jojoba genotypes were also determined. Highly significant differences among the genotypes were found for oil, protein, total carbohydrate and simmondsin contents. Genotype MD 8 recorded the highest oil content (54.95%), whereas genotype HD 6 had the lowest oil content (47.17%). However, the highest protein content (16.98%) and the highest carbohydrate value (33.97%) were found in genotype HB 6, which differed significantly from all the other genotypes. The significant variations in the studied characteristics observed among the genotypes might reflect, in part, their different genetic backgrounds. The inter-simple sequence repeat ISSR-derived data were evaluated to calculate the genetic similarity (ISSR-GS). The genetic similarity coefficient varied between 0.60 and 0.90. Cluster analysis was conducted to generate a dendogram to elucidate the relationships among jojoba genotypes. The dendogram generated using pooled ISSR data divided the jojoba genotypes into two main clusters. Genotypes HB8 and MD8 were found in the same sub-cluster using ISSR primers. These genotypes also had almost similar values for most chemical traits.

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