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Water requirement and use by Jatropha curcas in a semi-arid tropical location

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/3870/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2012.01.013
 
Title Water requirement and use by Jatropha curcas in a semi-arid tropical location
 
Creator Rao, A V R K
Wani, S P
Singh, P
Srinivas, K
Srinivasa Rao, Ch
 
Subject Watershed management
 
Description Jatropha curcas has attracted the attention of researchers, policy makers and industries as a
good candidate for biodiesel to meet the growing energy demand. It is a non-edible oil crop, drought
tolerant and could be grown on degraded lands in the tropics without competing for lands currently
used for food production. Jatropha curcas is a wild plant that is not much researched and little is
known about its water requirement and production potential of promising clones in different
agroclimatic conditions. Water use assessment of Jatropha curcas plantations in the semi-arid tropical
location at ICRISAT, Patancheru indicated that crop evapotranspiration of Jatropha curcas under no
moisture stress varied from 1410-1538 mm per year during 2006-2009. Under field conditions the
crop evapotranspiration varied from 614-930 mm depending on atmospheric demand, rainfall and
phonological stage. Patterns of soil water depletion indicated that with growing plant age from two to
five years, depth of soil water extraction increased from 100 cm to 150 cm by fifth year. Monthly water
use varied from 10-20 mm to 140 mm depending on water availability and environmental demand.
This study indicated that Jatropha curcas has a good drought tolerance mechanism, however under
favourable soil moisture conditions, Jatropha could use large amounts of water for luxurious growth
and high yield. These findings highlight the need to carefully assess the implications of large Jatropha
curcas plantations on water availability and use under different agroecosystems, particularly so in
water scarce regions such as semi-arid and arid regions in the tropics.
 
Publisher Elsevier
 
Date 2012
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
application/pdf
 
Language en
en
 
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Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/3870/1/ELSEVIER_Agricultural_Systems_Evaluation_and_application_of_CROPGRO_GA_SPW_AVRK_2010.pdf
http://oar.icrisat.org/3870/4/BiomassBioEnergy_39_175-181_2012.pdf
Rao, A V R K and Wani, S P and Singh, P and Srinivas, K and Srinivasa Rao, Ch (2012) Water requirement and use by Jatropha curcas in a semi-arid tropical location. Biomass & Bioenergy, 39. pp. 175-181. ISSN 0961-9534