Agro-technology of Jatropha curcas for diverse environmental conditions in India

Jatropha curcas has been widely planted without knowing its standard package of practice for optimizing the yield. Therefore, a standardized agro-technology of Jatropha is required. With this purpose, in this study an elite accession of Jatropha was planted at seven sites in India, covering a range of edapho-climatic conditions. Three experimental trials (spacing, pruning and irrigation and fertilizer) were carried out wherein its growth and yield performance were assessed for five years (2007-2012) at all the sites. The growth characters like plant height and number of branches showed significant variations among the sites and the effects of treatments were not uniform across the sites, indicating that site-specific package of practices should be followed instead of adopting the general recommendations. The seed yield was disappointing to recommend it randomly for large scale plantations on degraded lands in India. But results from the multi-location trials have shown good prospects at semi-arid (Bhavnagar) and drylands (Hyderabad); where plants in close spacing (2 x 2 m) produced significantly higher seed yield per unit area upto 1.4 t ha(-1) (Bhavnagar) in comparison to wide spacing. Pruning showed a negative effect on seed yield during initial five years. We found that the following prescription was sufficient to optimize the yield on India's degraded soils: irrigation at a 30 day interval, and for each planting hole 2 kg of Farm Yard Manure (organic manure) and nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium at 10 g, 20 g, and 10 g, respectively. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[1]  Vimal Chandra Pandey,et al.  Jatropha curcas: A potential biofuel plant for sustainable environmental development , 2012 .

[2]  K. Openshaw.  A review of Jatropha curcas: an oil plant of unfulfilled promise☆ , 2000 .

[3]  B. Naresh,et al.  Physico-chemical screening of accessions of Jatropha curcas for biodiesel production , 2012 .

[4]  Bajrang Singh,et al.  Ecological restoration of degraded sodic lands through afforestation and cropping , 2012 .

[5]  Bajrang Singh,et al.  Changes in physico-chemical, microbial and enzymatic activities during restoration of degraded sodic land: Ecological suitability of mixed forest over monoculture plantation , 2012 .

[6]  Marcello Basili,et al.  Biofuel from Jatrofa Curcas: environmental sustainability and option value , 2012 .

[7]  Chitra Shanker,et al.  Insect pests of Jatropha curcas L. and the potential for their management. , 2006 .

[8]  K. Sahai,et al.  Impact assessment of fruit predation by Scutellera perplexa Westwood on the reproductive allocation of Jatropha. , 2011 .

[9]  F. Asch,et al.  Effect of pruning history on growth and dry mass partitioning of jatropha on a plantation site in Madagascar , 2011 .

[10]  M. Mittelbach,et al.  Jatropha curcas L. as a source for the production of biofuel in Nicaragua , 1996 .

[11]  M. Benge,et al.  Assessment of the potential of Jatropha curcas, (biodiesel tree,) for energy production and other uses in developing countries , 2006 .

[12]  P. Srivastava,et al.  Growth performance, variability in yield traits and oil content of selected accessions of Jatropha curcas L. growing in a large scale plantation site , 2011 .

[13]  M. Trabi,et al.  Exploitation of the tropical oil seed plant Jatropha curcas L. , 1999 .

[14]  Wouter Achten,et al.  Climatic growing conditions of Jatropha curcas L. , 2009 .

[15]  D. Mishra.  Selection of candidate plus phenotypes of Jatropha curcas L. using method of paired comparisons , 2009 .

[16]  L. Verchot,et al.  Jatropha bio-diesel production and use , 2008 .

[17]  Raphael Edinger,et al.  A concept for simultaneous wasteland reclamation, fuel production, and socio-economic development in degraded areas in India: need, potential and perspectives of Jatropha plantations. , 2005 .

[18]  C. S. Everson,et al.  A field assessment of the agronomic performance and water use of Jatropha curcas in South Africa , 2013 .

[19]  Daemon Fairless.  Biofuel: The little shrub that could - maybe , 2007, Nature.

[20]  R. Prasad,et al.  Assessing Jatropha curcas L. germplasm in-situ - a case study. , 2008 .

[21]  Nicolas Carels,et al.  Chapter 2 Jatropha curcas: A Review , 2009 .

[22]  Baoan Song,et al.  Production and selected fuel properties of biodiesel from promising non-edible oils: Euphorbia lathyris L., Sapium sebiferum L. and Jatropha curcas L. , 2011, Bioresource technology.

[23]  D. Chaudhary,et al.  Diminution of economic yield as affected by pruning and chemical manipulation of Jatropha curcas L. , 2011 .

[24]  A. A. A. Kheira,et al.  Response of Jatropha curcas L. to water deficits: Yield, water use efficiency and oilseed characteristics , 2009 .

[25]  Sharachchandra Lele,et al.  Jatropha plantations for biodiesel in Tamil Nadu, India: Viability, livelihood trade-offs, and latent conflict , 2010 .

[26]  U. Schmiedel,et al.  Effects of organic amendment on early growth performance of Jatropha curcas L. on a severely degraded site in the Sub-Sahel of Burkina Faso , 2012, Agroforestry Systems.

[27]  Bajrang Singh,et al.  New Approaches to Enhance Eco-Restoration Efficiency of Degraded Sodic Lands: Critical Research Needs and Future Prospects , 2011, Ecological Restoration.

[28]  Shashi Kumar Jain,et al.  Critical review of jatropha biodiesel promotion policies in India. , 2012 .

[29]  U. Pathre,et al.  The Field Performance of some Accessions of Jatropha Curcas L. (Biodiesel Plant) on Degraded Sodic Land in North India , 2013 .

[30]  Raphael M. Jingura,et al.  Characterisation of land types and agro-ecological conditions for production of Jatropha as a feedstock for biofuels in Zimbabwe , 2011 .

[31]  Vinod Kumar,et al.  Correlating the phenotypic and molecular diversity in Jatropha curcas L. , 2011 .

[32]  A. Banjo,et al.  The Entomofauna of Two Medicinal Euphorbiacae in Southwestern Nigeria , 2006 .

[33]  Ashwani Kumar,et al.  An evaluation of multipurpose oil seed crop for industrial uses (Jatropha curcas L.): A review , 2008 .

[34]  P. Srivastava,et al.  Evaluation of plant performance of Jatropha curcas L. under different agro-practices for optimizing biomass ― A case study , 2010 .

[35]  Prasanna Kumar Panda,et al.  Effects of Fertilizer Application on Growth and Yield of Jatropha curcas L. in an Aeric Tropaquept of Eastern India , 2011 .

[36]  W. H. Maes,et al.  Use of inadequate data and methodological errors lead to an overestimation of the water footprint of Jatropha curcas , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[37]  L. Verchot,et al.  Jatropha biodiesel fueling sustainability? , 2007 .