These are the essential factors that have to be kept in mind and have to be appropriately checked before cultivating.
Altitude:
- Minimum altitude – 0 to 500 m
- Annual temperature – 2o to 28 degree Celsius
- Annual rainfall – 300 to 1000 mm
Climate
Has the ability to withstand severe heat and light forest. During the cold season, the Jatropha plant will shed its leaves. Extreme frost will damage the younger plants, and black frost will kill the young plants and cause severe damage to the older plants.
Soil Quality
Jatropha can grow well in well-drained soil as well as weak and saline soil. But in general, the plant prefers growing in alkaline soil. Growing Jatropha plants in poor soil can give good yield by using organic fertilizers.
Irrigation
Proper irrigation is needed during the first two years of plantation. The necessity of water depends on the type of soil and the climate. In that case, drip irrigation is the best to keep the soil moist at all times. The plant can survive on dryness by using the humidity present in the air
Weeding
Timely weeding like four times a year is essential, and proper fertilization and standard cultural practices like plowing and pruning is also necessary. When all these practices are correctly done, a yield of about 15 to 20 kg of Jatropha fruit can be obtained from a single tree.
Use of fertilizer
Jatropha is a highly disease-resistant plant, and any insects do not attack it. Since the Jatropha plant and leaves have poisonous materials within them, they act as an effective fence against any pest.
Hence Jatropha has adapted all types of soil; planting it in poor quality soil requires an additional amount of calcium, sulfur, and magnesium to give a good yield.
Crop density
To get a good crop density, the recommended spacing is 15 15 or 25 25 in one / two rows correspondingly 2m x 1.5m to 3m x 3mm for plantation. Thus in a single hedgerow, there will be about 4000 to 6500 plants per km. The amount will be doubled when they are planted in two rows.
Pruning
To get the maximum sprouting, flowers, and seeds, Jatropha has to develop side shoots. So between 90 to 120 days, plants that are 25 cm need to be cut at the top cleanly to make it produce 8 to 12 side branches.
It is always suggested that to get facilitated harvesting, it is necessary to keep the plant less than 2m.
Generally, pruning is done during the first year when the plant is 40 to 60 cm, and it is also done in the second year and third year to give the tree shape.
Inter-cropping
Inter-cropping refers to the process of planting more than one crop in the same field.
Depending on the topography, soil quality, and climatic condition, the Jatropha can be combined with other crops like red and green peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and horticulture. This is done to achieve profit in both terms like ecological and economical.
Crop yield
The yield of the plant depends on nutrients, water, age, and ability to withstand the heat of the plant. The other factors, like different methods of farming and harvesting, also play a considerable part in the plant yield.
Generally, the plant yield ranges from 2t/ha/year to 12.5t/ha/year. But it very difficult to estimate the actual yield since the plant can grow in different situations.
(edited 2-Dec-2019)