A New Jatropha curcas Variety (JO S2) with Improved Seed Productivity

Abstract

Abstract:One key reason for the failure of Jatropha plantation is the use of non-improved planting materials. We present in this paper a Jatropha variety (JO S2) through selective breeding with much better seed productivity than wild accessions as proven by field trials in Singapore and India. In a single farm trial in Singapore for two years, a comparison was conducted with accessions from China, India, Indonesia and Africa. It was found that all traits studied like seed yield, seed kernel content, seed oil content, fatty acid composition, phosphorus content and PE content differed significantly among and within the wild accessions. Overall, JO S2 was the best performer with the highest seed yield, high oil content and low phosphorus content. On two sites in Tamil Nadu, Southern India, this Jatropha variety produced up to 2.95 ton/ha of dry seeds in the first year and up to 4.25 ton/ha of dry seeds in the second year, much better than the local variety control. We attribute its higher seed productivity to early flowering, better self-branching, more flower/fruiting bunches, more fruits per bunch and importantly, better uniformity among plants. This exemplifies that breeding has improved Jatropha seed productivity which will lead to better economics for Jatropha plantation.

Sinkronisasi Source dan Sink untuk Peningkatan Produktivitas Biji pada Tanaman Jarak Pagar

“…Produktivitas aktual jarak pagar yang dianggap paling tinggi hingga saat ini 4,25 ton/ha yang dihasilkan oleh varietas JO S2 yang diperoleh dari seleksi konvensional (Yi et al 2014). Faktor pendukung produksi tinggi pada pertanaman tersebut merupakan hasil interaksi positif antara faktor genetik dan lingkungan.…”

“…Hasil penelitian Yi et al (2014) merupakan informasi penting yang bermanfaat dalam mengkaji komponen pendukung varietas potensial, dalam hal ini JO S2 dan pembandingnya. Sebagai varietas dengan potensi produksi tinggi, bila dibandingkan dengan provenan lain yaitu dari India, Indonesia, Filipina, Afrika, China, ternyata varietas JO S2 memiliki kanopi paling lebar, jumlah cabang paling banyak, dan perbandingan bunga jantan dan betina paling rendah (Tabel 1).…”

“…Bunga betina pada jarak pagar lebih sedikit dibanding bunga jantan. Perbandingan bunga jantan terhadap betina berkorelasi nyata dengan hasil biji (Yi et al 2014;Rao et al 2008). Faktor genetik memiliki pengaruh pada persentase bunga betina (Ahoton & Quenum 2012).…”

“…Namun data tersebut tidak disertai komponen atau kondisi lingkungan pendukung. Yi et al (2014) melaporkan varietas JO S2 mencapai produktivitas biji tertinggi (4,25 ton/ha) di Coimbaitore (India Selatan), dibanding di Madurai (India Selatan) atau Singapura. Hasil varietas atau provenan lainnya di ketiga lokasi juga lebih rendah.…”

Reclaimed Water Use in Biofuel Production

“…Therefore, the intensive cultivation of this species by using reclaimed water and irrigation techniques to achieve optimized production is the only option that has appeared in developed countries. Very little information is available about how to address Jatropha curcas cultivation under these particular conditions because its high genetic variability [2] makes carrying out such studies difficult. Nonetheless, some recent publications have provided information on its response to drip irrigation with reclaimed water [3,4] under dry conditions.…”