Survey and collection of Jatropha curcas Linn. germplasm in Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga and Chitradurga Districts of Karnataka, India

Jatropha curcas Linn. endemic to Tropical America is a drought-resistant plant which recently gained much importance in Asia and Africa as a biodiesel crop. Though it has wide cultivation in these areas the characterization and conservation of genetic resources remain poor. The present study focuses on surveying and collection of J. curcas germplasm in the study area. The study area falls under three different Agro-climatic zone of Karnataka viz., Southern Transition Zone (STZ), Hilly Zone (HZ) and Central Dry Zone (CDZ). All the taluks falling under STZ showed the incidence of J. curcas cultivation. In HZ except for Sringeri, all the taluks had an occurrence of J. curcas. The nonoccurrence of Jatropha plants in this area had been found mainly because of behavioral factor rather than environmental. In none of the taluks of CDZ which included entire Districts of Chitradurga and Kadur taluk of Chikkamagaluru district, J. curcas cultivation was found. The unawareness shown by farmers to the crop was found to be the reason for the non cultivation of Jatropha plants in these areas. Among the districts, in Shivamogga all the taluks had a prevalence of J. Curcas cultivation. In all the surveyed area J. curcas was grown as a hedge plant. The accessions belonging to drier regions of STZ had more fruit density per meter of live fence than the accessions of HZ with wet climate.