Breeding better plants

The establishment of a breeding programme to develop superior jatropha cultivars starts with the collection and characterisation of a wide range of Jatropha curcas accessions from a diverse range of climatic and genetic origins. Currently D1 has collected over 200 accessions of jatropha from around the world.

The first phase of the breeding programme will generate a number of candidate cultivars to be tested for adaptation and performance in the different plantation target areas around the world. In the second phase, D1 Oils will explore the potential to develop D1 hybrid cultivars for jatropha curcas.

Since Jatropha curcas is a perennial tree, D1 has chosen to use a combination of modern breeding approaches, including tissue culture, mutagenesis and molecular breeding.