A very important facet to energy security is to look for alternative fuel options. India has joined the list of countries who have taken a commitment to move to 10 - 20% biodiesel in commercial vehicles. A lot of research is ongoing to meet this requirement by 2020, and jatropha seed oil is one of them. However, jatropha is plagued with variability in seed yields and oil content in seeds. So, an article in Deccan Chronicle recently highlighted the work in M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai
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An initiative by the scientists of the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation will see the country’s jatropha growers hitting gold and the possible emergence of an alternative to fossil fuel. “We are zeroing in on a variety of jatropha capable of yielding 60 times more oil seeds per plant per year. The variety of the plant which we are developing will grow in all kinds of wasteland and non-arable lands,” said Dr Rajalakshmi, principal scientist, MSSRF.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle on the sidelines of a seminar on the bioenergy scenario in India held here on Tuesday, Dr Rajalakshmi, a biotechnologist, said the three jatropha plantations set up by MSSRF in Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Puducherry have given encouraging results. “We are in the process of scientifically testing and validating the best variety which will bring good returns to the jatropha growers and the end users,” said Dr Rajalakshmi. When crushed and processed, the jatropha seeds produce an oil that can be used in a standard diesel engine and the residue can be processed into a biomass to power electricity plants. Farmers who grew jatropha had suffered losses because of the poor yield. “They were getting hardly 100 grammes of seed per plant per year. The yield from the seeds too was meagre. Hence we launched the initiative through micro propagation and tissue culture. We succeeded in producing from a single jatropha plant many plantlets which have the same yield as that of the parent plant,” said Dr Rajalakshmi. The jatropha plants developed by the MSSRF biotechnologists will yield anything between two and six kg seeds per plant per year. “Their oil yield is more than 40 per cent than that of the traditional jatropha. Now we will isolate the seed with maximum yield and returns and distribute them to farmers,” said Dr Rajalakshmi. The bio-diesel from jatropha is unique since its emission levels would be too low compared to fossil fuels. “This will bring down the greenhouse gas emissions in the country,” she said.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle on the sidelines of a seminar on the bioenergy scenario in India held here on Tuesday, Dr Rajalakshmi, a biotechnologist, said the three jatropha plantations set up by MSSRF in Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Puducherry have given encouraging results. “We are in the process of scientifically testing and validating the best variety which will bring good returns to the jatropha growers and the end users,” said Dr Rajalakshmi. When crushed and processed, the jatropha seeds produce an oil that can be used in a standard diesel engine and the residue can be processed into a biomass to power electricity plants. Farmers who grew jatropha had suffered losses because of the poor yield. “They were getting hardly 100 grammes of seed per plant per year. The yield from the seeds too was meagre. Hence we launched the initiative through micro propagation and tissue culture. We succeeded in producing from a single jatropha plant many plantlets which have the same yield as that of the parent plant,” said Dr Rajalakshmi. The jatropha plants developed by the MSSRF biotechnologists will yield anything between two and six kg seeds per plant per year. “Their oil yield is more than 40 per cent than that of the traditional jatropha. Now we will isolate the seed with maximum yield and returns and distribute them to farmers,” said Dr Rajalakshmi. The bio-diesel from jatropha is unique since its emission levels would be too low compared to fossil fuels. “This will bring down the greenhouse gas emissions in the country,” she said.
1 comment:
This is not the comment for this article i.e. 'Alternative to fossile fuel", but to the objective of this blogspot.(As I don't have any other space to write my comments, I have recorded my comments here.)
The ojective of the blogspot is mentioned as "Through this blog, I plan to educate readers on what's hot in Indian Agriculture by placing facts rather than use of 'emotions and fear', to make independent decisions"
Since you have used the words 'to educate the readers', the readers of this blog are supposed to be layman or a beginner in the agricultural science. Are you restricting the readers of this blogspot to that level? Do you mean it?
If you do not mean it, please change the phrase suitably.
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