Jatropha Seeds Research Articles

INCIDÊNCIA DE FUNGOS EM SEMENTES DE PINHÃO-MANSO

The knowledge on seed pathogens is essential for setting management recommendations. Thus, aiming to determine the pathogens associated with Jatropha curcas L., in order to develop strategies to control them, the blotter test, modified with hydric restrictor NaCl - 1.0 MPa, and evaluation after seven days of incubation, at 25°C, with a 12-hours photoperiod, was used. The Jatropha seeds evaluated presented a high level of fungal species, regardless of their surface disinfection. Nineteen different fungi genera were identified, especially Alternaria alternata, Colletotrichum sp., Fusarium spp., and Rhizoctonia solani, which are commonly pathogenic and whose relevance must be taken into account.

Behaviour of different moisture contents of Jatropha curcas L. seeds under compression loading

A study was conducted to investigate the behaviour of different moisture contents of Jatropha curcas L. seeds under compression loading. To obtain jatropha seeds of different moisture contents ranging from 1% (w.b.) to 37% (w.b.), the seeds were soaked in water and kept in a refrigerator at 5°C for different number of days. Compression devices, namely ZDM 50-2313/56/18, pressing vessel with diameter of 76 mm and a pressing plunger of 90 mm height, were used. The amount of seeds in the pressing vessel was measured as 40 mm with compression force of 98,100 N. The results from the experiment showed that increasing the moisture content of the jatropha seeds influenced the force-deformation characteristic curve, deformation energy, maximum deformation and energy per unit volume. While moisture contents 1% (w.b.) and 10% (w.b.) displayed normal force-deformation characteristic, moisture contents 32% (w.b.) and 37% (w.b.) showed wave-effect characteristic. The R<sup>2</sup> coefficient of determination value of 0.87 obtained from the effect of moisture content on deformation energy and unit volume energy shows that jatropha seeds of moisture content 16% (w.b.) would require minimum energy but high efficiency during compression.

Solid Liquid Extraction of Jatropha Seeds by Microwave Pretreatment and Ultrasound Assisted Methods

Jatropha curcas has a variety of uses which are of great economic significance. Jatropha oil can be used as fuel alternative and for making biodiesel that is supposed to overcome the source limitation problem. In this study, conventional, ultrasound assisted and microwave pretreatment solid liquid extraction of Jatropha seed were studied in terms of amount and quality of the extracted oil. The free fatty acid content which is an important oil quality index was also investigated for the obtained oil. Both ultrasonication and microwave pretreatment of the seeds had a positive effect on amount of yield. However, by application of ultrasound, more oil could be extracted compared with that obtained by conventional and microwave pretreatment extraction methods. The maximum amount of oil which could be extracted by conventional, ultrasound assisted and microwave pretreatment methods were 47.33, 51.4 and 49.36%, respectively. Regarding the quality, oil extracted by conventional, ultrasound assisted and micmicrowave pretreatment extraction methods did not show any significant difference in terms of Free Fatty Acids (FFA) content.

Extraction of β-Sitosterol from Jatropha Seed Oil

Solvent extraction technique was applied for the extraction of β-Sitosterol from jatropha seed oil．The optimum conditions for the lab scale extraction were obtained at 30ml solvent, 0.05g magnesium power, ratio of hydrochloric acid to zinc chloride of 1/1.75 (ml/g) and tetrahydrofuran as a solvent. Under the optical conditions, the yield of β-sitosterol was up to 3.27mg/g.

Determination of Stigmasterol in Jatropha Seed Oil by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

A simple and rapid high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay was developed to identify and measure the stigmasterol in jatropha seed oil. The stigmasterol was isolated with a good selectivity by HPLC employing reversed phase C18 columns. The components were separated by mobile phase of methanol-water (99/1, v/v) and detected at 202nm. The quantitation of the stigmasterol was reproducible and the method relative standard deviation is 1.6%. The mean analytical recovery was 97.0%．

Oil expression from Jatropha seeds using a screw press expeller

Experiments were conducted to determine the effects of moisture content, cooking temperature, and cooking time on the yield of oil mechanically expressed from Jatropha seed using a screw press expeller. A maximum oil recovery of 73.14% was obtained when Jatropha seeds were conditioned to a dry basis (db) moisture level of 9.69% and cooked at 110 °C for 10 min. Screw press oil recovery, residual oil, pressing rate, and oil sediment content were measured at different moisture contents for uncooked and cooked seed. At optimum processing conditions, oil recovery from cooked seed was 7% higher than that of uncooked seed. Pressing rate decreased from 30.92 to 29.5 kgh −1 and 31.38 to 29.87 kgh −1 for cooked and uncooked seeds, respectively, where as sediment content increased from 4.27 to 7.86% and 4.02 to 5.27%, respectively, as moisture content decreased. Oil expressed under the processing conditions investigated was of acceptable quality.

Homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis production and evaluation of bio-diesel from Jatropha, neem and rubber seeds

Optimization of process parameters for producing biodiesel from Jatropha carcus, Azadirachta indica and hevea brasiliensis seed oils using homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyst were investigated. Temperature and methanol characteristics (oil molar ratio; catalyst type, concentration and agitation) controlled the ester convers-ion. A single-step and two-step trans-esterification were used to produce biodiesel from free fatty acid rubber, jatropha and neem seed oils. The maximum yields of ester from jatropha, neem and rubber oils were respective-ly 98.4, 94.6 and 92.8 % by homogeneous catalysis, and 79.0, 72.0 and 70.2 % by heterogeneous catalysis. While the homogeneous catalysis route produced higher biodiesel yields, the heterogeneous catalyst method produced biodiesel of lower ester content. The fuel properties of biodiesels and blends were analysed quantitati-vely, and the biodiesel produced by homogeneous catalysis compared favourably with conventional diesel fuel.

Identification and expression analysis of two small heat shock protein cDNAs from developing seeds of biodiesel feedstock plant Jatropha curcas

Plant small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) are known to be important for environmental stress tolerance and involved in various developmental processes. In this study, two full-length cDNAs encoding sHSPs, designated JcHSP-1 and JcHSP-2, were identified and characterized from developing seeds of a promising biodiesel feedstock plant Jatropha curcas by expressed sequence tag (EST) sequencing of embryo cDNA libraries and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). JcHSP-1 and JcHSP-2 contained open-reading frames encoding sHSPs of 219 and 157 amino acids, with predicted molecular weights of 24.42 kDa and 18.02 kDa, respectively. Sequence alignment indicated that both JcHSP-1 and JcHSP-2 shared high similarity with other plant sHSPs. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that the transcriptional level of both JcHSP-1 and JcHSP-2 increased along with natural dehydration process during seed development. A sharp increase of JcHSP-2 transcripts occurred in response to water content dropping from 42% in mature seeds to 12% in dry seeds. Western blot analysis revealed that the accumulation profile of two cross-reacting proteins, whose molecular weight corresponding to the calculated size of JcHSP-1 and JcHSP-2, respectively, was well consistent with the mRNA expression pattern of JcHSP-1 and JcHSP-2 in jatropha seeds during maturation and natural dehydration. These results indicated that both JcHSPs might play an important role in cell protection and seed development during maturation of J. curcas seeds.

Occurrence of storage fungi in jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) seeds.

Atropha is a potential source for production of bio-diesel and an alternative source for fossil fuels. The present study is undertaken for the analysis of storage fungi and its biodiversity in Jatropha seed samples collected from local market and research institutes in Chennai. Standard plating technique was used to study the growth of storage fungi in seeds stored for 12 to 60 months by using selective media called osmophilic media. The analysis of storage fungi in seeds with different treatments to observe as (1) surface mycoflora (2) surface invaders (3) internal fungi (4) kernel fungi. The results show that, the occurrence of different species of Aspergillus, Penicillium and Mucor species was the dominant mycoflora even from interior portion of the seeds. Among the species of storage fungi encountered, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus glaucus, Aspergillus fumigatus and Penicillium species were frequently present in the order of dominance. Mucor and Rhizhopus also occur constantly in all the samples. The higher contamination of seeds with storage fungi indicates the possibility of quality losses particularly in lipid, which may affect the quality of bio-diesel. Among the different strains of A. flavus, few were found to produce aflatoxin B1. The spoilage of lipids by the named fungi, may affect the quality of bio-diesel. This study will create awareness of fungal spoilage on biodiesel seeds and for remedy to prevent the storage losses by microorganisms. Key words: Storage fungi, Jatropha seeds, Aspergillus spp., Penicillum spp., Mucor sp., Rhizopus sp., Biodiesel, storage losses, aflatoxin.

Expression profiles of genes involved in fatty acid and triacylglycerol synthesis in developing seeds of Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.)

Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L., Euphorbiaceae), a potential biodiesel plant, has created tremendous interest all over the world for the use of its seed oil as a commercial source of biodiesel. Due to the unreliability of oil content in its seeds and low economic returns planting of jatropha in agriculture was restricted. Investigating the molecular basis of storage lipid accumulation during seed development is an immediate need to understand genetic factors regulating storage lipid biosynthesis in jatropha seeds. In this study, we characterized the seed development and lipid accumulation from female flowers pollinated to mature seeds, and investigated temporal expression profiles of 21 lipid genes involved in different steps of the pathways leading to fatty acid and TAG synthesis within jatropha developing seeds using quantitative real-time PCR technology. Concomitantly, 17 genes increased their expression levels in developing seeds compared to their expression in leaf, but showed various temporal expression patterns and different relative-maximum ratio ranging from 2.8 to 1,919,280-fold in developing seeds. Five gene groups with distinct temporal patterns were identified by clustering analysis of expression data. Two gene groups including 15 genes presented up-regulated expression patterns correlated with storage lipid accumulation in developing seeds. This study provided not only the initial information on promoter activity for each gene, but also a first glimpse of the global patterns of gene expression and regulation, which are critical to understand the molecular basis of lipid biosyntheses, identifying the rate-limiting genes during seed development and to create improved varieties by genetic engineering.

Profiling the Developing Jatropha curcas L. Seed Transcriptome by Pyrosequencing

Jatropha curcas L. has received much attention recently as a potential oilseed crop for the production of renewable oil. Despite the interest in this crop, relatively little is known on the molecular biology of this species compared with more established oilseed crops. To gain a more detailed understanding of the processes involved in deposition of oil and protein within Jatropha seeds, we conducted high-throughput sequencing analysis of the transcriptome of developing J. curcas seeds using 454 sequencing. A single sequencing run yielded 195,692 sequences (46 Mbp) of raw sequence data. Assembly of this sequence data produced 12,419 contigs and 17,333 singletons. BLASTX searches of the contigs revealed that storage proteins were the most abundant transcripts. Oleosins, ribosomal proteins, metallothioneins and late embryogenesis abundant proteins were also highly represented. Curcin, a type-I ribosome-inactivating protein, accounted for 0.7% of the transcriptome. No transcripts for type-II ribosome-inactivating proteins were found, suggesting that these are not present in the seeds of J. curcas. To test the power of 454 sequencing compared to conventional gene sequencing as a tool for gene discovery, a search of the homologues for genes involved in the conversion of sucrose to triacylglycerol was conducted. Hits for all the known genes in this process were obtained. Pyrosequencing of the J. curcas developing seed transcriptome has provided a valuable increase in the amount of sequence data currently available for this species. The sequence data will be of great use to those engaged in J. curcas research and crop improvement.

Degradation of phorbol esters by Pseudomonas aeruginosa PseA during solid-state fermentation of deoiled Jatropha curcas seed cake

Large amount of seed cake is generated as by-product during biodiesel production from Jatropha seeds. Presence of toxic phorbol esters restricts its utilization as livestock feed. Safe disposal or meaningful utilization of this major by-product necessitates the degradation of these phorbol esters. The present study describes the complete degradation of phorbol esters by Pseudomonas aeruginosa PseA strain during solid state fermentation (SSF) of deoiled Jatropha curcas seed cake. Phorbol esters were completely degraded in nine days under the optimized SSF conditions viz. deoiled cake 5.0g; moistened with 5.0ml distilled water; inoculum 1.5ml of overnight grown P. aeruginosa; incubation at temperature 30°C, pH 7.0 and RH 65%.SSF of deoiled cake seems a potentially viable approach towards the complete degradation of the toxic phorbol esters.

Extraction of Oil from Jatropha Seeds

Solid liquid extraction technique was applied for the extraction of oil from jatropha seeds．The optimum conditions for the lab scale solid liquid extraction were obtained at temperature at 40°C, extraction time of 4 h, ratio of liquid to solid of 8/1 (v/m) and n-hexane as a solvent. Under the optical conditions, the yield of Jatropha seeds oil was up to 31.42%.

Aviation fuel production from lipids by a single-step route using hierarchical mesoporous zeolites

Hierarchical mesoporous molecular sieves with tunable zeolitic crystallinity, acidity and porosity were tailored to develop a single-step process for hydroconversion of triglycerides and free fatty acids obtained from algae and Jatropha seeds. Ni-W catalyst supported on acidic zeolitic ZSM-5 support with hierarchical structure and intra-crystalline mesoporosity with composition similar to that for typical hydrocracking catalyst could yield 40–45% C9–C15 hydrocarbons and high isomerization selectivity (isomer/n-alkane, i/n ~ 2–6) from Jatropha oil. While Ni-Mo catalysts on the same support furnished 40–50% kerosene range hydrocarbons with i/n ~ 3–13. For algal oil feed hydroconversion using sulfided Ni-Mo catalyst supported on high surface area semi-crystalline ZSM-5, unexpectedly high yield of jet-fuel range hydrocarbons (77%) with moderately high isomerization selectivity (i/n = 2.5) could be obtained.

Jatropha seed protein functional properties for technical applications

Jatropha press cake, by-product after oil expression from Jatropha seeds, contains 24–28% protein on dry basis. Objectives of this research were to investigate functional properties, such as solubility, emulsifying, foaming, film forming, and adhesive properties, of Jatropha press cake proteins and compared those with relevant industrial proteins. From our study, we found that protein extracted from press cake proteins had a solubility of about 90% above pH 9. Emulsifying properties of press cake protein were comparable to sodium caseinates and reached the highest value at pH 9–10. Jatropha proteins formed films with tensile strength of 0.4–1.8MPa with 10–75% elongation, which were below soy protein or wheat-gluten. Further oil removal from press cake decreased emulsifying properties, while increased foaming and adhesive properties of the extracted proteins. Protein extracted from de-oiled press cake showed better foaming properties than sodium caseinate at pH 10, but lower than egg white protein at all pH. Furthermore, press cake protein showed better adhesive properties than casein adhesives at the same dry matter content. Based on these results, Jatropha press cake protein showed most promising results on adhesive and emulsifying properties, which indicate the potential of Jatropha press cake protein as emulsifier or paper adhesive.

Detoxification of Jatropha curcas Seeds for Use in Nutrition of Monogastric Livestock as Alternative Feedstuff

3 Abstract: An experiment was conducted to investigate the utilization of Jatropha seed cake by Albino rats. Jatropha Seed Cake (JSC) treated by boiling, fermentation followed by extraction with equal volumes of hexane and ethanol was included in diets at graded levels of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%. Data obtained on performance and body organ indices showed that rats tolerated up to 15% dietary JSC without adverse effects on the measured parameters in relation to the corn-soy reference diet (p>0.05). However, 20 and 25% inclusion levels elicited mortality in all the animal subjects receiving the diets within one week in the course of the experimental trial.

Transcriptome analysis of the oil-rich seed of the bioenergy crop Jatropha curcas L

BackgroundTo date, oil-rich plants are the main source of biodiesel products. Because concerns have been voiced about the impact of oil-crop cultivation on the price of food commodities, the interest in oil plants not used for food production and amenable to cultivation on non-agricultural land has soared. As a non-food, drought-resistant and oil-rich crop, Jatropha curcas L. fulfils many of the requirements for biofuel production.ResultsWe have generated 13,249 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from developing and germinating Jatropha seeds. This strategy allowed us to detect most known genes related to lipid synthesis and degradation. We have also identified ESTs coding for proteins that may be involved in the toxicity of Jatropha seeds. Another unexpected finding is the high number of ESTs containing transposable element-related sequences in the developing seed library (800) when contrasted with those found in the germinating seed library (80).ConclusionsThe sequences generated in this work represent a considerable increase in the number of sequences deposited in public databases. These results can be used to produce genetically improved varieties of Jatropha with increased oil yields, different oil compositions and better agronomic characteristics.

Efeito da salinidade na germinação de sementes e no crescimento inicial de mudas de pinhão-manso

O pinhão-manso (Jatropha curcas L.) é encontrado em quase todas as regiões intertropicais do planeta, sendo adaptável a condições edafoclimáticas da região Nordeste até São Paulo e Paraná. Objetivou-se através do presente trabalho avaliar o comportamento de sementes e mudas de pinhão-manso quando submetidas à condição de estresse salino. Para isso foram conduzidos dois experimentos, sendo o primeiro realizado em condições de laboratório e o segundo em campo. Para o primeiro experimento as sementes de pinhão-manso, dos dois lotes foram submetidas a diferentes concentrações de cloreto de sódio, obtidas da dissolução de cloreto de sódio em água destilada, obtendo as condutividades elétricas de 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, dS.m-1, constituindo os tratamentos. No experimento II as mudas foram obtidas através da semeadura em vaso, e foram utilizados como tratamentos as concentrações 2, 4, e 6 dS.m-1; como controle foi utilizado água destilada para os dois experimento. Sementes de pinhão-manso sofrem atraso no processo germinativo, devido a condições de salinidade. Há redução no crescimento das plântulas quando submetidas à solução de NaCl com condutividade elétrica de 6 dS.m-1. Dessa forma, a condição de estresse salino interfere nos processos fisiológicos das sementes de pinhão-manso.

Nutritional, Biochemical, and Pharmaceutical Potential of Proteins and Peptides from Jatropha: Review

Increased bioenergy consciousness and high demand for animal products have propelled the search for alternative resources that could meet the dual demands. Jatropha seeds have potential to fit these roles in view of their multipurpose uses, broad climatic adaptability features, and high oil and protein contents. During the past five years many large-scale cultivation projects have been undertaken to produce jatropha seed oil as a feedstock for the biodiesel industry. The present review aims at providing biological significance of jatropha proteins and peptides along with their nutritional and therapeutic applications. The nutritional qualities of the kernel meal and protein concentrates or isolates prepared from seed cake are presented, enabling their efficient use in animal nutrition. In addition, (a) biologically active proteins involved in plant protection, for example, aquaporin and betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase, which have roles in drought resistance, and beta-glucanase, which has antifungal activity, as well as those having pharmaceutical properties, and (b) cyclic peptides with various biological activities such as antiproliferative, immunomodulatory, antifungal, and antimalarial activity are discussed. It is expected that the information collated will open avenues for new applications of proteins present in jatropha plant, thereby contributing to enhance the financial viability and sustainability of a jatropha-based biodiesel industry.

Subcritical hydrolysis and supercritical methylation of supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of Jatropha oil

This study investigates supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO 2) extraction of triglycerides from powdered Jatropha curcas crude seeds followed by subcritical hydrolysis and supercritical methylation of the oil extracted by scCO 2 to obtain biodiesel. Effects of the reaction temperature, the reaction time and the solvent to feed ratio on free fatty acids in the hydrolyzed oil and fatty acid esters in the methylated oil via two experimental designs were also examined. Supercritical methylation of the hydrolyzed oil following subcritical hydrolysis of the scCO 2 extract yielded a methylation reaction conversion of 98.3%. The activation energy of hydrolysis and trans-esterified reactions were 50.2 and 23.9 kJ/mole, respectively. This study demonstrates that supercritical methylation preceded by subcritical hydrolysis of the scCO 2 oil is a feasible two-step process in producing biodiesel from powdered Jatropha seeds.