Preliminary results of the behaviour of Jatropha curcas in the south of Italy

A multi year research has been set up in order to study the biological and agronomic response of several varieties of Jatropha curcas L., characterized by a high level of oil in the seeds, in the semi-arid Mediterranean environment of Sicily in the south of Italy. The research work was carried out in order to verify the adaptability of the species to outside of its belt of cultivation; the research aims at verifying the possibility of cultivating Jatropha curcas in the south of Europe and evaluate the resistance of varieties of different provenance to cold and drought. The field experiment was carried out at Ispica (Ragusa Province, Sicily Region) using eight accessions of Jatropha curcas from Brazil (2 varieties), India (2 varieties), Tanzania, Senegal, Ghana, Guadalupe. A randomized blocks design with three repetitions was applied with a single plot of 4 square meter (2 x 2 m). The seeds were sown in small pots in controlled environment on 03/06/2008 and transplanted in the field on 18/06/2008. The irrigation, carried out using a drip irrigation system, was performed only the first 15 days after transplanting. The soil was ploughed at 30- 35 cm depth and then harrowed and weed cleaned until transplanting. In the central row of each plot biological and morphological data were collected. Moreover the temperature and rainfall of the area were measured by means of sensors and CR10 (Campbell, USA) datalogger.