The demise of investment inJatrophawas reported in aprevious postin this blog in 2009. Amidst controversy over the waterfootprintofJatropha(in which the crop was found to yield a poor energy return per unit of water) BPbacked outof a $160 million joint venture with D1 oils to exploitJatrophafor biodiesel. D1 oils have since admitted their owndisappointmentinJatrophaagronomy and announced a cutback in their operations, under the shadow of falling share prices, last September.

As predicted, research efforts in breeding and genetics continue, with the goal of producing elite hybrids ofJatrophadriven by the growing demand for high quality biodiesel (particularly for aviation). A study bySunet al. (2012), just published inBiotechnology for Biofuels,uses a genetic map ofJatrophato locate chromosomal regions that correlate with favorable growth and seed traits in an experimental cross. Molecular markers for these quantitative trait loci (QTL) will be used to assist genetic improvement by helping researchers to identify the best breeding stock.

A major investment inJatrophabreeding was also just announced bySG Biofuels, who are to open a genomics center in San Diego with a focus on shortening the breeding cycle. The company is also expanding its training initiatives in Brazil and India and starting a seed production facility in Guatemala.

Finally, a PR boost for biofuels this week came with news of somehigh profile flights, including a plane journey made by the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Secretary General, Raymond Benjamin. He travelled from the G20 meeting in Mexico City to the Rio +20 summit in São Paulo on a jet fueled, in part, byJatropha.

Image credit: Sapphic, Wikipedia