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Abstracte use of Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) as a source of biofuel has been well-documented. However, the physiological characteristic and growth analysis studies of Jatropha have received considerably lesser attention. In the present study, to con rm the physiological characteristics of Jatropha, we measured the leaf gas exchange characteristics in response to various environmental conditions. Seedlings were grown in 1/5,000 a pots for 2-3 months under greenhouse conditions. Leaf gas exchange rates were measured in a handmade assimilation chamber (26×30×9 cm), in which a fully expanded whole leaf could be set. Based on the leaf gas exchange characteristics, Jatropha was considered to be a C 3 photosynthesis plant. e photosynthetic rate ranged between 10 and 25 µmol m . Application of varying vapor pressure di erence (from 1 to 3 kPa) did not a ect the photosynthetic rate. Photorespiration in Jatropha was 28.5%, which is within the range of typical C 3 plants. Based on the photosynthetic parameters presented in this study, eld performance of Jatropha under severe environmental condition is discussed. Key words:Jatropha curcas L., photosynthesis, photorespiration, leaf position, vapor pressure di erence.In history, fossil fuels have been serving as a central driving force for the development of civilization and industrialization of mankind. However, world oil reserves are being exhausted at an ever increasing rate, which is accompanied by a sharp increase of atmospheric CO 2 , one of the major greenhouse gases. e recent oil crises and growing public awareness of global energy issue have prompted the development of alternative, renewable sources of energy (Ndong et al. 2009). Biomass is a recyclable energy source that is expected to replace fossil fuels (Dyer and Mullen 2008). e use of biomass as a fuel is generally recognized as 'Carbon Neutral' , and hence it is considered to mitigate global warming. Biomass from agricultural products and its by-products can be collected more easily than other biomass. However, the agricultural products are consumed as foodstu s in most instances. Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) is an energy plant in which between 28% and 38% of the seeds consists of oil (Kaushik et al. 2007) that can be converted into a good quality biodiesel by esteri cation with methanol. The seeds also include phorbol-ester which has been reported to be toxic to humans and domestic animals (Goel et al. 2007). For this reason, oil extracted from Jatropha seeds is not suitable for food use at present. Since Jatropha can grow in marginal soils and semiarid climates, this plant has gained increasing attentions as a promising alternative for the production of biodiesel that does not compete with food production. By 2008, Jatropha originals from Mexico had already been planted over an estimated 900,000 ha across the globe (Kant and Wu 2011).Moreover, several Jatropha extension programs have been or being underway in sub-Saharan African countries, such as Tanzania, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gambia, Kenya, Li...

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To understand how metabolism changes during fruit ripening in Jatropha curcas L., we performed a nontargeted analysis of metabolites in fruit (the pericarp and developing young seeds) from each maturation stage by means of liquid chromatography-Orbitrap-mass spectrometry, which provides m/z data with approximately 2 ppm precision.e chromatographic data were processed using bioinformatics tools. e total number of metabolites detected decreased substantially with fruit maturation. Self-organizing map (SOM) analysis and metabolite annotation of the ions detected suggested that dynamic metabolic changes occur during fruit maturation. All chromatographic data were deposited in databases accessible by the public.

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