Jatropha, Challenges for a New Energy Crop: Volume 3: A Sustainable Multipurpose Crop

Jatropha curcas, or physic nut, is a small tree that, in tropical climates, produces fruits with seeds containing ~38% oil. The physic nut has the potential to be highly productive and is amenable to subculture in vitro and to genetic modification. It also displays remarkable diversity and is relatively easy to cross hybridize within the genus. Thanks to these promising features, J. curcas is emerging as a promising oil crop and is gaining commercial interest among the biofuel research comm...