Variability of growth and oil characteristics of Jatropha curcas L. in Northeast India

Success of improvement of Jatropha curcas depends on wide germplasm from different agroecological regions showing specific and attractive traits. The present study aimed to compare characteristics of 28 jatropha accessions in the light of enhancing the viability of the oil-based biodiesel chain. The tested jatropha accessions showed a wide range of responses. The plant morphology (height, branching and leaves) also indicated some vigorous genotypes. The growth was accompanied by a wide range of leaf gas exchange (CO2 and moist) that gave water use efficiency values ranging between 0.5 and 8.5. The morphological and physiological differences had no significant influence on seed weight (67-76 g/100 seeds). Oil yield with a mean value of 27.93% can be considered a medium yield for jatropha; only few accessions had oil over 30%. However, differences were well evident in free fatty acid (1.4-28.7%), phorbol ester (PE, 1.1-4.3 mg/g oil), tocopherol (73.7-907.8 ng/mg oil) and unsaturated fatty acid (78.8- 90.8%) contents. The present data support studies to correlate genetic, morphological, physiological and biochemical traits in each genotype considered for future selection of ideotypes with low undesirable free fatty acid contents, and potential valorisation of secondary oil products (PEs, tocopherols) to enhance the economic viability and sustainability of the jatropha oil-based biodiesel chain.