Polyaniline montmorillonite nanocomposite was prepared using H2O2 as the oxidant. The catalytic environment of montmorillonite favours polymerization. Intercalation and composite formation was proven from various techniques such as XRD, FTIR, DRS and thermal analysis. XRD patterns give the dimension of the intercalated PANI, from the shift of 2θ values, which is in the nano range. FTIR showed that PANI composite formation occured without affecting the basic clay layer structure. Thus the successful development of an alternative cheap route for polyaniline–montmorillonite nanocomposite was well established.
The seeds of 6 × 6 half diallel progenies of Jatropha curcas were used to evaluate the effects of genotypes (parents and their hybrids) on germination traits of jatropha at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Germination traits were varied significantly (p<0.01) among the seeds of hybrids and their parents. The germination was started at four days after planting and prolonged until 15 days. Seed germination varied from 58.06 to 92.76% among the parents and 53.43 to 98.96% among the hybrids. The highest germination was observed in the hybrid P2 × P4 and none of the hybrid or parent showed complete (100%) germination. The maximum GI (germination index) and SVI (seedling vigour index) were found in the hybrids P1 × P5 and P1 × P2 and the lowest in P2 × P4 and P3 × P6, respectively. For most germination parameters parents behaved poorly than that of the hybrids.
Six parents (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6) half diallel population of Jatropha curcas were evaluated to determine the combining ability, genetic components of variance and heterosis for yield contributing traits. Diallel analysis showed that both additive and dominance gene action was responsible for the genetic regulation of all the traits under study. The cross combination P1 × P3 showed the highest positive specific combining ability for seed yield per plant. Combining ability results were also in close agreement with the findings of estimate of genetic components of variance. The seeds per fruit (89%) and 100-seed weight (93%) showed maximum narrow sense heritability. Seed yield per plant showed high mid parent (254.13%) and better parent (202.36%) heterosis in the cross combinations of P2 × P5 and P1 × P3, respectively.The parents of P1, P2, P3 and P5 were found to be superior for seed yield components when used in cross. Considering seed production for each plant, the hybrids P1 × P2, P1 × P3, P2 × P5 and P4 × P6 could be selected for the development of hybrid varieties.
Phenotypic selection of individuals is the first step in a selective breeding program for elite hybrid seed production. In
this study, a total of 295 Jatropha curcas individuals raised from cuttings representing 21 accessions, collected from eight
different countries were evaluated for growth performance. The evaluation was done at the Biodiesel Research Station
of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Pilah from December 2012 to December 2013. Individual plants from each
accession were observed on several agronomic and yield related traits and all the data were recorded periodically.
Performance of each accession was analyzed using Statistical Analysis System (SAS) 9.4. Four traits which were plant
height (PH), number of flowers per inflorescence (NFI), number of female flowers per inflorescence (NFFPI) and hundred
seed weight (HSW) showed significant differences among the accessions after one year of planting. Maximum values for
each trait were 115.5 cm for PH, 6 for number of branches per plant (BPP), 9 for number of inflorescences per plant
(NIPP), 25 for number of fruits per plant (NFPP), 5 for number of fruits per inflorescence (NFPI), 191 for NFI, 10 for
NFFPI, 81.0 g for HSW and 70 for number of seeds per plant (NSPP). Accession number 1 from Thailand showed the best
performance for most traits. A highly significant and positive correlation was found between NFPP and NSPP. Based on
superior trait values for NIPP, NFPP, NFPI, NFI, NFFPI and HSW, five plants from accession UKMJC 01, 04, 05, 13 and 14
have been selected for generating elite intraspecific hybrids.