As a beginning of this site want to share with you about this wonder plant Jatropha curcas Linn from   seed to oil. Jatropha is native to Mexico and Central America.Its origin was found in Central America over 70 million years ago. It has milky sap that can irritate our skin. Jatropha belongs to Euphorbiaceous family and it’s genus [Jatropha] comprising 170 species. is a small tree or shrub with a lifespan of nearly 50 years.  This plant is monoecious and female flowers generally in large size and occurs in hot season.It comes under cross pollinated category and pollination occurs through insects. The fruits are fleshy until it matures and the shape of the fruit is trilocular ellipsoidal. At the stage of fruits turns to yellow complete harvesting and cleaned seed decorticated before expelling. The oil content varies based on age of plant, but we can expect average around 30% oil from a 4 years plant.

SEEDS: Jatropha can grow on wide range of climatic conditions and on different soils with a minimum rainfall of 300-1000 mm.The reproduction of plant can be done either through seeds in poly bags or sowing of branch cuttings in line with a distance of 25-30 cm and 2 cm depth.

CUTTINGS: Branch cuttings can collect from mother plant with specifications of 2-3 cm thickness and minimum of 40 cm length. Then they are planted in nursery beds with a spacing of 30 cm x 30 cm.Longer and thicker cuttings give us good performance.

PLANTING IN MAIN FIELD: Transplanting of 4 months old seedlings is done in 45×45x45 centimeters size pit. Applying of chlorpyriphos dust is useful in protecting termites and also it is better to apply Trichoderma viridae for better protection of seedlings. Direct seed sowing [2-3 seeds]is also recommended while monsoon starts and remove  all plants after 50 days keeping single plant in main field. But direct seed sowing is not advisable for better results. The recommended population per hectare is 1100 with a spacing of 3×3 mts.

PRUNING: The pruning must be done when the tree sheds the leaves and take care to avoid the peeling off the bark. From 2nd year onwards we can prune from a plant with 4-5 cm girth branches.To avoid fungal attack apply COC after pruning.

FERTILIZERS: At the time of transplanting if we can apply 2 – 3 kgs of organic manure per pit gives us better results at the same time in the case of chemical fertilizers if we apply npk ratio of 40:40:20 Kgs along with 2.5 tons of vermicompost per hectare at the beginning of rainy season gives us very good results

IRRIGATION: Flowering, Pod formation and Pod filling stages are crucial for irrigation. Based on requirement weeding should be done. Irrigation must be done once in 15 – 20 days  during summer season

INTERCROPPING: When Jatropha plantation age is below 2 years we can grow intercrops like jowar, red gram, black gram, castor etc. It gives us supplementary income also

Pests and Diseases: There is a chance of attack of Pests like leaf webber, minor, thrips, mealy bugs, mite, black hairy caterpillar etc and diseases like damping off, root rot  leaf spot and powdery mildew.

Generally Fruits will be mature 2 months after anthesis and changes to yellow color which is a stage for harvest the fruit. It gives yield of 1500 – 2000 Kgs after 4 years under rainfed conditions and it gives yield upto 50 years