Invasive weed risk assessment of three potential bioenergy fuel species.

Abstract

Bioenergy crops are potential renewable sources of bio-diesel which have low emission profiles, environmentally beneficial, and capable of substituting petro-diesel. However, since most of them are introduced or are not native, it is essential to reduce the ecological and economic consequences of invasive pest introductions and the potential invasiveness of species not yet introduced. The Australian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) is a plant screening method and has the highest accuracy. The objective of this study was to conduct an agronomic and invasive weed risk assessment of three potential bioenergy fuel species namely: moringa (Moringa oliefera), physic nut (Jatropha curcas), and castor bean (Rincinus communis) for the Caribbean Islands. The WRA gave overall scores for moringa (0), jatropha (13) and castor oil (13). Based on their climatic adaptation and distribution, jatropha (5) and castor oil (5), the dispersal mechanism score was high (5) for both of them. The study revealed that jatropha and castor bean should not be considered as bioenergy crops within the ecological limits of the study, and that moringa should be further evaluated as bioenergy crop against invasiveness, given its agronomic potential as a high yielding oil crop. Key words: Weed risk assessment, Moringa oliefera, Jatropha curcas, Rincinus communis, bioenergy plants.