Assessment of reproductive characteristics of Jatropha curcas L. in south Florida

Abstract

Jatropha curcas L. (jatropha) is a species identified for biofuel production because of the high quality of the oil produced by its seeds. However, jatropha is undomesticated and little information is available about its reproductive characteristics. Breeding and genetic improvement programs are much needed for the jatropha development as a bioenergy crop. Information about floral display and mode of reproduction are considered essential for breeding programs. In this study, the total number of female flowers, male to female flower ratio, fruit set, in vitro pollen germination, and the formation of fruits by apomixis, self-pollination, and natural pollination were evaluated in 17 jatropha accessions planted in South Florida. The total number of female flowers per inflorescence and male to female flower ration ranged from 2.8 to 9.1 and 9.9:1 to 55.4 : 1, respectively. During summer 2011, high fruit setting average was observed (75.5%). In vitro pollen germination varied from 64.6% during spring 2011 to 51.6% during fall 2011. The fruit set observed was from 10.1% to 64.0% through natural pollination and apomixes, respectively. Characteristics such as fruit fresh weight, number of seeds per fruit, seed dry weight, and oil content were influenced by mode of reproduction.

Flowering and Fruiting Seasonal Changes of Six Accessions of Jatropha Curcas L. In a Semi-Arid Region of Senegal.

“…These aspects have so far received little attention in North America, where it is noted exceptionally, the study of Nietsche et al (2014) carried out in south Florida. It emerged from these investigations that J. curcas is a monoecious and diclinous (with inflorescences of unisexual flowers) species.…”

“…Flowering characteristics are significantly affected by the season (Nietsche et al, 2014) and accessions origin (Wijaya et al, 2009;Nietsche et al, 2014). The inflorescence of J. curcas is a raceme (Kaur et al, 2011 Mat et al, 2015).…”

Population structure of jatropha and its implication for the breeding program

“…The observed variability is supported by the morphological evaluation reported in Nietsche et al (2013). These authors evaluated 17 accessions of jatropha from the collection at the University of Florida and observed that the Mexican and Costa Rican accessions differed in reproductive characteristics.…”

Induction of different types of callus in Jatropha curcas L. hybrid accession at in vitro condition

“…In addition, Pierik (1991) mentioned that petiole is a somatic tissue and plants raised from the petiole are more resistant to genetic variation. This variability is supported by the morphological evaluation reported in Nietsche et al (2013). These authors evaluated 17 accessions of jatropha from the collection at the University of Florida and observed that the Mexican and Costa Rican accessions differed in reproductive characteristics.…”

“…Among the international collections of jatropha, the University of Florida gene bank contains various accessions of different origin. Studying the population of this collection, Nietsche et al (2013) and Santos et al (2016) confirmed that Costa Rican and Mexican accessions can be used as potential parents in breeding programs of jatropha because they showed a high level of genetic diversity. The distinctness and high genetic diversity of Mexican accessions has also been reported by PecinaQuintero et al (2011) in Mexico.…”