Chiang Mai Journal of Science

 Indonesia has committed to gradually increase share of biofuel to at least 5% on its national energy mix in 2025. Therefore, all biofuel resources need to be explored, including jatropha oil. Objectives of this study were to identify suitable Jatropha curcas L. accessions for biodiesel production and collect them for future breeding program. In this study, fourteen accessions were collected from four major islands in Indonesia. All collected accessions were grown on sub-optimal land at Agro Techno Park in South Sumatera for agronomic and genetic evaluations. Dice’s similarity coefficients between accessions were calculated and a dendrogram was constructed based on agronomic and genetic similarity matrices using the un-weighted pair-group mean algorithm. Results of this study indicated that agronomic similarities were higher among accessions collected from the same island or with neighboring island with similar agroclimate, as observed on accessions collected from Sumatera and Kalimantan. Jawa and Sulawesi accessions were in a different cluster. Accession clusters based on genetic traits was different from those based on agronomic characteristics, suggesting that environment played significant roles in influencing phenotypic characteristics. Nine crossings were made between genetically-distant accessions. Progeny with highest seed oil yield of 171.69 g/plant was from crossing between IDR (Inderalaya, Sumatera) as female and PNT (Pontianak, Kalimantan) as male parent. In addition, five other progenies exhibited heterosis effect (LMPxPDI; PDIxMDN; CRPxPDI; IDRxPLG; and PDIxLMP) are recommended for breeding programs. Seed oil yield of progenies was higher if genetic similarity coefficient between parents was lower