Future fuel 'panacea' under attack from virus; more research neede
Jacob P. Koshy



New Delhi: Amutant form of a virus, which typically affects tobacco,
tomato and soybean, has begun attacking jatropha plants in Balrampur,
Uttar Pradesh, and scientists who first spotted it say it may decrease
the oil content of the plant's seeds.
Jatropha, a non-edible plant that abundantly grows in tropical
countries, is an increasingly popular biofuel and is seen by
businesses and governments, including India, as a viable source of
biodiesel.
The virus, known as a mosaic virus, is typically transmitted by
insects and causes the leaf borders of plants to curl up, but in the
case of jatropha plants, the leaves were curling up and getting
smaller, without insects getting involved.
" So, while the symptoms are those of mosaic virus attack, it seems to
be transmitted by the sap of the plant, which makes us believe it's
something new," said J.P. Tewari, a professor of botany at the
Maharani Lal Kunwari College, in Balrampur, who first spotted the
symptoms of the disease and reported his findings in the latest issue
of the peer-reviewed Current Science journal.
Jatropha, which grows pretty much anywhere from fertile alluvial soil
to stony rocky fields, usually flowers in the winters and Tewari and
his research students published their findings on the basis of their
observations in 2005.
"But now we see that even the seeds are getting affected. They are
distinctly smaller and it's very likely that their oil output is
lower. We are now testing how much," Tewari added, and said that he
would publish his new findings within two-three months.
Mosaic viruses are known to trigger a wide range of infections among
plants, and though chemicals are available to counter it, scientists
say such viruses have an ability to mutate rather quickly.
"I can't give an offhand estimate of the economic damage by mosaic
viruses, but every season there's a new mutation that poses a new
challenge, " said P.C. Pant, senior agronomist at the Indian
Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi.
Jatropha curacus is one of the few inedible plants with an oil content
ranging from 40-60%, which means that 40-60% of the seed and kernel is
filled with an oil that can be processed to obtain biodiesel, though
how much of it can be actually extracted depends on the technology
employed.
But unlike tomato and tobacco, which are major food and cash crops,
very little research has gone into studying jatropha.
"Before all this excitement on it being a panacea for our fuel
problems, jatropha was just another weed and, at best, was used by
tribals for a few medicinal needs," said M.K. Ananthan, scientist at
the Indian Grassland and Forest Research Institute, Jhansi.
But today, with businesses such as D1 Oils Plc. and BP Plc., and
India's Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd having invested in pilot jatropha
cultivation projects in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and some regions in
the North-East, a lot more time and money is being invested to
understand jatropha.
Smaller Indian firms such as Nandan Biomatrix Ltd, for instance, have
special research wings to study and provide consultancy services on
the feasibility and potential of cultivating jatropha. "Not only
India, but we are looking at land in Malaysia and Africa to cultivate
jatropha," said Jayakumar B., research director at Nandan Biomatrix.
These projects consist of farmers cultivating the jatropha plant in
waste lands. Therefore, a virus threat would imply more investments on
the farmer's part in insecticide or medicines to protect the plant.
"We don't have conclusive studies yet, of how rapidly the disease
spreads, but along with our experiments we are developing some
herbal-based medicines to counter the threat," said Tewari.
Though research on the economics of jatropha is quite limited, the
per-barrel cost to produce biofuel using jatropha is about $43
(Rs1,694), about half that of maize and roughly one-third that of
rapeseed—two other leading materials for alternative energy.
However, independent experts says there's nothing to be alarmed about
yet, but this finding should, if not anything else, trigger more
research. "Jatropha is a hardy plant and is known to be extremely
adaptable plant," said S. Srinivasan of the National Research Centre
for Weed Science.
"Moreover, viruses and bacterial infections are second nature with
plants, too. I am sure a lot more research will be initiated to
understand jatropha better."
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