Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Jatropha curcas L.: A new source of sustainable food feed and fuels

6^th Global Summit and Expo on Food & Beverages

August 03-05, 2015 Orlando-FL, USA

Juan M Montes

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

Jatropha curcas L. (jatropha) is a multi-purpose perennial plant that can be cultivated in the arid tropics and subtropics. Jatropha has the potential to produce food feed and fuels on degraded land, upgrade poor soils and generate employment in rural isolated areas. Exploiting the full potential of this plant requires investment in its genetic improvement because the plant has not been domesticated. Historically, the domestication of plants took several hundred years. Nowadays, the challenge is to reduce the time needed for domestication of new plants to one or two decades. With the scientific methods developed in plant breeding and the availability of advanced biotechnological tools, plant domestication can be achieved rapidly. Large genetic variation exists for traits of economic importance in Jatropha germplasm. The products from this plant can replace edible oils and protein enriched food, animal feed meals and fossil fuels. In parallel, atmospheric carbon is sequestered and stored below ground. Plant biomass increases the level of soil organic matter and improves its quality and value. The main focus of the presentation would be to show the complete process of research and development from breeding to specific utilization cases. The untapped potential of Jatropha to contribute to food security globally will be particularly addressed.