Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is one of the oldest cultivated crops, but currently it represents only 0.15% of the vegetable oil produced in the world. Castor oil is of continuing importance to the global specialty chemical industry because it is the only commercial source of a hydroxylated fatty acid. Castor also has tremendous future potential as an industrial oilseed crop because of its high seed oil content (more than 480 g kg−1), unique fatty acid composition (900 g kg−1 of ricinoleic acid), potentially high oil yields (1250–2500 L ha−1), and ability to be grown under drought and saline conditions. The scientific literature on castor has been generated by a relatively small global community of researchers over the past century. Much of this work was published in dozens of languages in journals that are not easily accessible to the scientific community. This review was conducted to provide a compilation of the most relevant historic research information and define the tremendous future potential of castor. The article was prepared by a group of 22 scientists from 16 institutions and eight countries. Topics discussed in this review include: (i) germplasm, genetics, breeding, biotic stresses, genome sequencing, and biotechnology; (ii) agronomic production practices, diseases, and abiotic stresses; (iii) management and reduction of toxins for the use of castor meal as both an animal feed and an organic fertilizer; (iv) future industrial uses of castor including renewable fuels; (v) world production, consumption, and prices; and (vi) potential and challenges for increased castor production.

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Resumo -O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito do espaçamento entre fileiras e da população de plantas sobre a produtividade e outras características agronômicas da mamoneira de porte baixo, para a colheita mecanizada, na safra de verão. O experimento foi realizado durante os anos agrícolas 2007/2008 e 2008/2009, em um Latossolo Vermelho distroférrico, em Botucatu, SP, com uso da cultivar FCA-PB. Utilizou-se o delineamento de blocos ao acaso com parcelas subdivididas e quatro repetições. As parcelas foram constituídas por quatro espaçamentos entre fileiras (0,45, 0,60, 0,75 e 0,90 m), e as subparcelas por quatro populações iniciais de plantas (25.000, 40.000, 55.000 e 70.000 plantas por hectare). O aumento da população de plantas, independentemente do espaçamento entre fileiras, diminuiu a sobrevivência de plantas, o diâmetro do caule, o número de racemos por planta e de frutos por racemo. As maiores produtividades de grãos e de óleo da cultivar FCA-PB são obtidas com populações iniciais entre 55.000 e 70.000 plantas por hectare, nos espaçamentos entre fileiras de 0,45 a 0,75 m.Termos para indexação: Ricinus communis, arranjo espacial, componentes da produção, densidade de plantas, teor de óleo. Low-height castor bean row spacing and plant population for mechanical harvestAbstract -The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of row spacing and plant population on yield and others agronomic characteristics of low-height castor bean, for mechanical harvest, in the summer

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As intensive farm development can cause changes in soil structure, it is crucial to study cultivars that can adapt to these changes, along with the climatic conditions of the Cerrado of Mato Grosso. The objective of this study is to assess the effects of soil bulk density (weight of soil in a given volume) on the agronomic performance of the safflower genotypes (Carthamus tinctorius L.). The experiment was conducted at the Federal University of Mato Grosso in a greenhouse. A completely randomized design in factorial scheme with four replications was selected. The treatments comprised of five soil bulk density levels (1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 Mg m -3) and ten safflower genotypes (PI 237538, PI 248385, PI 250196, PI 301049, PI 305173, PI 305205, PI 306596, PI 306603, PI 560202 and PI 613366). The following evaluations were done after completion of the experiments: total shoot dry mass, upper ring root dry mass, intermediate and lower total root dry mass. The data were subjected to the analysis of variance and the means were categorized by the Scott-Knott test at the 5% level of probability. The genotypes and soil bulk density influenced the components in isolation ways. The shoot dry mass production was impaired from the bulk density of 1.10 Mg m -3. For the root dry mass, the limit was 1.04 Mg m -3. In general, from the soil density of 1.20 Mg m -3 the growth and development of safflower genotypes were influenced negatively. The increase in soil density reduced the total root dry mass up to 71.11%.