BREL and SGB collaborate for jatropha

In India, Bharat Renewable Energy (BREL), a joint venture of Bharat Petroleum, one of the country's largest petroleum companies, has initiated a programme with SG Biofuels (SGB) to develop and deploy elite hybrids of jatropha for the production of biodiesel.

Phase one of the project involves a crop development effort to produce cross varieties of jatropha adapted to unique growing conditions across the country. Additional phases include the deployment of more than 86,000 acres of jatropha using SGB's JMax hybrid seeds.

'With the genetic diversity of their jatropha hybrid material combined with ability to produce large volumes of hybrid seed, SG Biofuels is an ideal partner to work with to successfully develop, validate and scale jatropha as the primary source for biodiesel in India,' says M.V. Radhakrishnan, CEO of Bharat Renewable Energy.

SGB will draw from the advancements of its global JMax crop development centres where the company is optimising elite hybrid varieties of jatropha through a combination of molecular breeding and biotechnology.

The centres feature hybrid material from the company's germplasm library totalling more than 12,000 genotypes. SGB will work with BREL to select, test and scale the highest yielding, most commercially viable hybrid varieties for growing regions in India, including the initial 86,000-acre deployment.