Abstract

GARCIA ALONSO, Florencia; GARCIA PEREZ, Eliseo; PEREZ VAZQUEZ, Arturo  and  RUIZ-ROSADO, Octavio. Oil content in Jatropha curcas L. non-toxic accesses in Veracruz, Mexico. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2017, vol.8, n.3, pp.635-648. ISSN 2007-0934.  https://doi.org/10.29312/remexca.v8i3.37.

The seeds of Jatropha curcas L., present high oil content, and therefore have a high potential as a raw material for biodiesel productio. However, the production level and oil content in non-toxic seeds from Veracruz is unknown. The objective of this paper was to determine the oil content and yield of different accessions of non-toxic J. curcas collected in different regions of the state of Veracruz, sexually and asexually propagated, and established in the central region of Veracruz. The plant material consisted on 16 nontoxic accesses, propagated by seed and stakes. In three-year-old plants morpho-productive determinations were made, and seeds were collected during the 2014 cycle. For the extraction of oil, the Goldfish® equipment was used, using hexane as solvent. No statistical differences were found between accesses for oil content. In general, all accesses had high values in oil content. In plants propagated by seed fluctuated between 54.13 to 60.98%, and in those originated by stake was from 51.75 to 58.48%. Significant positive correlations were found between fruit number and oil content (r= 0.74) and seed weight and oil content (r= 0.79) in seed propagated plants. The highest oil yield per hectare, based on the number of fruits (157) (184) and seed weight (641.1 g plant-1) (817.8 g plant-1) corresponded to accesses I-32 and I-34, with 590.55 and 761.68 L ha-1, respectively, in seed-propagated plants. It is concluded that seed propagated plants had a better performance than those propagated by stake.

Keywords : biofuel; non-toxic oil; propagation; seeds.