|
|
Jatropha
Advantages
Jatropha curcas (Kattamanakku) is an oil plant. The
botanic name Jatropha is derived from Greek, "Jatras" meaning Doctor and "trophe,"
Nutrition.
It is significant to point out that, the non-edible vegetable oil of
Jatropha curcas has the requisite potential of providing a promising and
commercially viable alternative to diesel oil since it has desirable
physicochemical and performance characteristics comparable to diesel. Cars
could be run with Jatropha curcas without requiring much change in design.
Few advantages of jatropha are given below:
>> Jatropha is adapted to a wide range of climates and soils.
>> It can grow almost on any type of soil whether gravelly, sandy or
saline and thrives even on the poorest stony soils and rock crevices.
>> It is a drought resistant perennial living up to 50 years.
The tree grows up to a height of 3 meters, which means harvesting is an
easy task. A hybrid variety of jatropha could give three harvests an year,
compared to two harvests by other varieties of jatropha. It takes two
years for a 'Jatropha' sapling to begin producing seeds, and they can
produce seeds for up to 30 years. The seeds are crushed to extract raw
oil, Jatropha seeds contain about 35% of non-edible oil.
|