STUDIES ON NUTRITIVE POTENTIAL AND TOXIC CONSTITUENTS OF DIFFERENT PROVENANCES OF JATROPHA-CURCAS

Eighteen different provenances of Jatropha curcas from countries in We st and East Africa, North and Central America, and Asia were character ized for nutrient and antinutritional factors. The mean weight of the 18 seed provenances was 0.64 +/- 0.10 g (mean +/- sd). The kernel form s a large proportion of the seed and accounts for 61.3% +/- 3.1%. Ther e were large variations in the contents of CP (19-31%; 26.0% +/- 3.2%) , lipid (43-59%; 53.0% +/- 4.8%), neutral detergent fiber (3.5-6.1%; 5 .0% +/- 0.87%), and ash (3.4-5.0%; 4.2% +/- 0.52%) in kernels. The gro ss energy of kernels was relatively similar (28.5-31.2 MJ/kg; 30.1 +/- 0.80 MJ/kg). Trypsin inhibitor activity in the defatted kernels (meal ) varied from 18.4-27.5 mg of trypsin inhibited/g. Similarly a wide va riation was observed for saponins (1.8%-3.4% as diosgenin equivalent), phytate (6.2%-10.1% as phytic acid equivalent), and lectin activity, inverse of minimum amount of the sample in milligrams per milliliter o f the assay which produced agglutination (0.85-6.85 using a latex aggl utination test and 51.3-204 using a hemagglutination assay) in the mea ls. Tannins, amylase inhibitor, glucosinolates, and cyanogens were not detected in any of the meals. Phorbol esters were not detected in the seeds collected in Papantla, Mexico, whereas the level of phorbol est ers in the remaining 17 provenances ranged from 0.87 to 3.32 mg/g of k ernel.