Variation in Growth and Fruit Yield of Jatropha curcas Provenances/Families in Hainan, China

Variation in growth and fruit yield of Jatropha curcas was assessed for the 2-year-old provenance/progeny trial plantation in Hainan. The trial consisted of 195 families from 19 provenances in four provinces of China. The following traits were assessed: survival, height, diameter at ground level, number of fruiting branches and fruit yield. Overall mean survival, height, diameter at ground level, the number of fruiting branches and fruit yield were 93.65 %, 1.97 m, 6.85 cm, 1.38 per tree and 20 per tree, respectively. The coefficient of variation varied from 11.50% to 60.70%. There were significant differences between provinces and between provenances from different counties in all growth traits whilst the differences among families were significant in survival only. For the five traits, the genetic coefficient of variation (GCV) in the family ranged from 1.14% to 13.64%, indicating that there were rich genetic variations in some traits among families. All growth traits except survival were positively correlated with each other. However, these growth traits were not correlated with latitude, longitude and altitude of the seed sources. Cluster analysis did not reveal a pattern of variation among the seed sources, suggesting a random variation pattern of J. curcas involved in the trial.