Electronic Journal of Plant Breeding

Low fruit yield is a major constraint in Jatropha curcas plantations in South India. The variations in flowering and fruiting characters across years was studied in a three year old Jatropha plantation. The relationship among the characters and their stability revealed existence of significant genetic differences among different phenotypes. The reproductive success was high as evidenced by the high correlation between female flowers and fruit set. It also suggested that J. curcas displays phenomenon of alternate bearing. The limitation of low count of female flowers needs to be tackled by adoption of silvicultural practices to enhance female flower production per plant. The study suggests need to understand the planting material selected for breeding and crossing programmes should aim at increasing yield.