Effect of fruit drop on harvesting schedule and oil yield of Jatropha curcas L.

Silip, J. J. and Tambunan, A. H. and Jalloh, M. B. (2013) Effect of fruit drop on harvesting schedule and oil yield of Jatropha curcas L. Journal of Tropical Plant Physiology, 5. pp. 1-9.

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Abstract

The trend in jatropha fruit drop was determined as it has been shown to influence harvesting technique and affect harvesting schedule. The effect of fruit drop on oil extracted yield was also determined to substantiate the claim that this phenomenon is detriment. Twenty five bunches having a minimum of eight fruits per bunch from randomly selected twenty five individual trees were tagged to observe fruits drop. Oil extracted yield from dropped and fruits that were still on tree bunches were chemically extracted and compared. The results showed a logarithmic trend (R²=0.94) for dropped fruits with delay in harvesting. After two months delay in harvesting, about 95% of the observed fruits were fall. Oil extracted yield from dropped fruit was lower compared to undetected fruits. The result of this study demonstrated the disadvantage of drop fruit to harvesting schedule and loss on extracted oil yield.

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