Physicochemical properties of jatropha seed oil: discloses potential source of biodiesel production

Jatropha is an alternative source of fossil fuel grown in the tropics and subtropics. This research focuses on measuring of physical, chemical and (lubricating) characteristics of Jatropha seed oil extracted from 45 genotypes to explore its potential as biodiesel feedstock. Significant genetical variation was observed from the ANOVA for the genotypes. High coefficient of variation for genotype and phenotype were found for all seed oil properties with moderate differences. The traits reported the highest values of broad sense heritability and genetic advance were oil moisture content (85.77%), free fatty acids (52.99%) and peroxide value (148.84%). Significant correlation coefficient was found at 10 physiochemical characteristics Jatropha seed oil samples. The oil content of seed (%) revealed significant positive correlation coefficient with oil density (0.40**), oil moisture content (0.21*), saponification value (0.26**). Cluster analysis based on seed oil properties; 45 Jatropha genotypes were clustered in six groups. The maximum number of the genotypes (11) were grouped into cluster V. The cluster V integrated the highest number of genotypes while the second and third top-performing genotypes were found in cluster IV (9) and II (8), respectively.