Seed oil content variation in Jatropha curcas Linn. in different altitudinal ranges and site conditions in H.P. India

The present study was conducted to determine the variation in yield and oil content by taking composite sample of six Jatropha trees selected randomly from two cultural site conditions viz. arable (T1), non-arable (T2) and three altitudinal ranges E1 (400-600m) ), E2 (600-800m) and E3 (800-1000 m) in Himachal Pradesh. The oil was extracted from the dried seed using steam distillation method of oil extraction. The highest oil was recovered in T2 E2 (non-arable site with low altitude) various morphological and yield attribute like number of fruits/branches, number of fruits/tree, number of seeds/tree were also studied. Arable site with high altitude (T1E3) recorded the highest value for these parameters.