Bulk production of Jatropha Curcas at Nursery Level
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under Jatropha Micromission is collecting Jatropha accessions from across the country and producing quality planting material of Jatropha based on oil content (30-40%). The programme is supported at 14 centres including a centralized facility for oil testing and molecular characterization. A total of 1500 acessions have been collected and superior quality accessions have been identified.
In this project, TERI is producing the superior quality jatropha accessions (identified by DBT) in bulk so that DBT can further evaluate the germplasm and propagation package of practices can be worked out for commercial plantation of the selected and elite planting material. Instead of the conventional method of jatropha propagation, which takes two years for the plant to yield, TERI has developed a new method. This includes the use of mycorrhizal biofertilizer for early fruiting. TERI’s mycorrhizal application to jatropha seeds/clonally produced seedlings speeds up the process of flowering and fruiting: the first yield arrives after 7seven months of cultivation. Besides this, the technique also results in up to 30% higher yield and plant biomass.
In this project, TERI is producing the superior quality jatropha accessions (identified by DBT) in bulk so that DBT can further evaluate the germplasm and propagation package of practices can be worked out for commercial plantation of the selected and elite planting material. Instead of the conventional method of jatropha propagation, which takes two years for the plant to yield, TERI has developed a new method. This includes the use of mycorrhizal biofertilizer for early fruiting. TERI’s mycorrhizal application to jatropha seeds/clonally produced seedlings speeds up the process of flowering and fruiting: the first yield arrives after 7seven months of cultivation. Besides this, the technique also results in up to 30% higher yield and plant biomass.