Effect of pruning on Jatropha curcas L. seedlings during the nursery stage

Abstract

Objective: To determine the effect of pruning on seedlings of Jatropha curcas L. during the nursery stage.Design/Methodology/Approach: To determine the effect of pruning on Jatropha curcas L. seedlings during thenursery stage, a study was carried out at the nursery of the CPA “Abel Santamaría” of the Martí municipality,Cuba. A complete randomized design was used. Three treatments (T) were tested: 1) control (without pruning),2) pruning 30 cm above the soil and seedling defoliation, 3) pruning 30 cm above the soil and without seedlingdefoliation. A descriptive analysis was carried out to determine the survival, regrowth, and number of plantswith primary branches. For the number of leaves and branches, height, and diameter, a simple analysis ofvariance was used, with partitions for each observation.Results: No treatment influenced the survival and regrowth of the plant: up to 2 branches of T2 and T3 wereobtained per plant. A greater height was recorded with T1 (38.63 cm) and this result is different from T2 andT3. The highest number of branches that formed primary branches was obtained by pruning and withoutdefoliation (28 vs. 22 and 0, for T2 and T1, respectively).Study Limitations/Implications. Pruning is an option that can increase Jatropha’s agronomic yield, but it hasnot been studied under nursery conditions.Findings/Conclusions. The pruning of J. curcas seedlings at 30 cm above the ground, under nurseryconditions, with or without defoliation, does not affect the survival or regrowth of the crops and thedevelopment of the primary branches. However, more plants with primary branches and a wider stemdiameter can be obtained by pruning without defoliation