Jatropha Jatropha: Potential raw material for biodiesel production in Brazil

The opportunity and actions to domesticate Jatropha Jatropha

Brazil needs quality oils and seeks, in conventional and potential raw materials, opportunities to offer consistent quantities of these products and meet growing national and global demands. Conventional species are crops "with technological mastery" and production chains in growing or consolidated organization, and soybeans, sunflowers, castor beans, cotton, palm oil, contribute to this agenda. Among the potential species, Jatropha curcas L. has been considered as one of the alternatives of interest, with monitoring, efforts and public and private investments, and is in the process of expanding cultivation, characterized by the private initiative of commercial planting and through technical-scientific domestication actions aimed at transforming it from a natural species into a cultivated species, on scientific grounds. These efforts focus on the state of the art on the understanding and use of the species in the world and in Brazil, and seek to meet the demands of the competitive market and the time necessary for science to produce consolidated results and effects for the understanding and adequate use of the species. .

Jatropha on the agenda of interests in Brazil

Jatropha curcas L., an oilseed not yet used in the human or animal food chain, is considered a potential raw material for the National Biodiesel Production and Use Program (PNPB). The species has some desirable potential characteristics, which make it interesting for the program, such as: grain and oil yield, good oil quality for biodiesel production, adaptability to different regions, precocity and longevity, diversification alternative, possibility of insertion in the family farming production chain, among others.

However, there are some technical and scientific challenges for the inclusion of Jatropha in the energy matrix of biofuels in Brazil, which can be analyzed through three aspects: 1) Production technology and crop productivity: need for scientific knowledge that supports and provides genetic basis to botanical descriptors, breeding and production systems. 2) Normative limitations for the cultivation of Jatropha: registration of cultivars (RNC) and commercial exploitation. 3) Quality of vegetable oil and use of the cake: presence of anti-nutritional, allergenic and toxic factors (such as curcin and phorbol esters).

Jatropha curcas (L.) is a natural species introduced in Brazil centuries ago and is dispersed throughout a large part of the national territory, in the form of isolated plants or reduced masses in small alleys and fences, backyards and farms, indicating strong anthropic action for maintenance and spread of the species. Initially in the 1980s and more recently, starting in 2005, the species is being planted in commercial and experimental areas, aiming to understand and use it for oil production. Public and private domestication efforts have begun, aiming to use this species as a crop; however, grain yields, and therefore oil yields, are still low, or even insignificant.

Despite being considered a rustic plant, adapted to marginal soil and climatic conditions, Jatropha requires the application of cultivation technologies (fertilization, pest and disease control, management practices, etc.) to present economic levels of fruit production. The plant tolerates cultivation conditions with a low technological level but, in this case, productivity is low, which can make its cultivation economically unfeasible. It must be considered that mechanisms of tolerance to environmental stresses (biotic and abiotic), sometimes observed in this species of Euphorbiaceae, produce effects on the survival of the plant, but do not guarantee high vegetative and reproductive performance of the species, which may result in low yields. of fruits, grains and oils.

Natural materials present low productivity of organs of interest (fruits, seeds and oil content, for example), and the exploration of genetic variability for characteristics of productive and commercial interest through conventional breeding and advanced biology techniques can contribute to productive improvement of the species, resulting in competitive commercial cultivars. Commercial plantations of jatropha in Brazil are still in the initial phase of implementation, with an age of less than or equal to 4 years, and the real prospect of dense production in periods longer than this is not known. Despite the lack of basic technical information, the culture has been disseminated and implemented in several regions of Brazil.

The implanted jatropha materials (seeds or cuttings) are genetically unknown, and there are no improved cultivars yet, about which there is information and guarantees of production potential. Production systems are not yet validated for the different regions, requiring information on seed production, propagation systems, planting densities, formation and maintenance pruning systems, mineral nutrition and fertilization and crop management. Jatropha is susceptible to pests and diseases and lacks effective management and phytosanitary control strategies. Fruit maturation is uneven, requiring more than 4 harvests annually, which increases production costs.

There are still no consolidated technical indices and studies on the economic viability of Jatropha cultivation to serve the biodiesel market in the short, medium and long term, in the different regions of Brazil where there are commercial cultivation initiatives. For these reasons, the lack of technical and economic criteria that support the recommendations for a "technologically mastered" crop still constitutes a limitation for the legal regulation of the species as an agricultural crop. However, although there is no support for the registration of new commercial cultivars, the species Jatropha curcas (L.) is already regulated by MAPA Normative Instruction No. 4, of January 14, 2008, issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply.

National Research Strategy: Contributions from the Embrapa network and public-private partners

The technical-scientific challenges of jatropha cultivation require the coordination of efforts and resources with a focus on Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I). To meet this demand, Embrapa articulates and works in a network with high scientific and technological density, involving partners from Brazil and abroad, joining efforts and optimizing the use of resources to, in the shortest possible time, define technologies and strategies that enable insertion of jatropha into the biodiesel production chain.

Several Embrapa Centers, Universities, Research Institutions and private companies are carrying out research actions to implement and characterize working collections and select productive genotypes adapted to regional conditions. In addition, they carry out research to develop and validate production systems, including bottleneck activities such as cultivars with defined genetics, timing of flowering and fruiting, toxic components, and agronomic aspects of producing quality seeds and seedlings, mineral nutrition, spacing, control of pests and diseases and crop management in a way that allows the sustainable production of Jatropha in the producing regions.

Embrapa is working on the characterization and enrichment of a collection of Jatropha germplasm, with accessions from different regions of Brazil and abroad. It also develops actions to provide technical-scientific support for the botanical and molecular characterization of Jatropha, aiming to subsidize the registration of cultivars and shorten paths to obtaining improved genetics. The characterized and standardized collection will serve as the basis for crop genetic improvement programs in Brazil.

As jatropha is a non-domesticated perennial species, it is estimated that it will take a few years to obtain improved cultivars (homogeneous, distinct, stable - criteria required by the National Cultivar Registry - RNC) and scientifically based information on the cultivation system. crop production, which support its commercially competitive cultivation in different regions of Brazil.

Jatropha Jatropha: potential and focus on strengths and weaknesses

Brazil and the world are looking for alternative renewable sources of quality oil raw materials, for production on a competitive basis. From the point of view of renewable biomass energy, the current discussion is centered on data and opinions; however, the real issue is based on "technologically mastered" and "non-technologically mastered" raw materials.

Potential oil species such as pinhão mansion require domestication to change their current primitive natural state to a cultivated species in the future, with actions that overcome technical-scientific challenges and current legislation.

For jatropha we need to recognize two facts. A bottleneck fact: the species does not yet have a defined technological domain; and, a solution fact: there is a bold "homework" in progress, with integrated efforts of public and private initiatives seeking to understand and use genetics, the adequacy of production systems, the local and regional adaptability of the species , obtaining distinction-homogeneity-stability of commercial cultivars, focusing on institutional, technical-scientific and productive arrangements for the competitive expansion of Jatropha in Brazil, as a promising alternative for high agricultural and industrial yields.

Frederico Ozanan Durães

- General Head of Embrapa Agroenergia - (

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Bruno Laviola

- Researcher at Embrapa Agroenergy (

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