Prebreeding for cold tolerance in Jatropha curcas

The current interest in the development of crops that produce bioenergy is of great importance when considering the depletion of world oil reserves. Several factors contribute to the growing role of renewable energy use in Europe and around the world: first, the need to reduce the effects of climate change, strengthen competitiveness and energy independence and economic development opportunities connected with the emergence of new technologies. The species Jatropha curcas is a plant that produces biodiesel with features that soddisfarre with international quality standards. In the Argentine Northeast it will count with 24 million hectares that have arid characteristics and only addatte saline on this crop. This area, which has recently been used, which is a strategic element for obtaining biodiesel "biosostenibile", producing a favorable effect on the entire marginal economy of that area and contributing to the utilization of skilled labor. The Jatropha curcas plant has a low tolerance to cold and frost, even if they were found in nature specimens that have selected progeny resistant to cold allowed them to survive the winter months. The aim of this collaborative project is to study the genetic variability of the species Jatropha Jatropha macrocarpa y Hieronymi, naturally resistant to cold, in order to study the genetic improvement of Jatropha curcas.