Discovery of male sterility from an interspecific cross between Jatropha curcas and J. integerrima

Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) is a shrub that produces non-food oil and can potentially be used for biodiesel production. An interspecific cross was made between J. curcas and peregrina (J. integerrima) to increase genetic diversity. Interestingly, male sterility was observed in the F2 population. Out of the 445 F2 plants, five, namely, ms-1 to ms-5, exhibited male sterility, characterized by unopened and distorted stamens without pollen. The parental jatropha, peregrina, F1 and F2 had fertile pollen grain rates of 90.61%, 96.39%, 81.46% and 75.39%, respectively. To verify the fertility of the pistils in the male sterile plants, they were pollinated through selfing, opening and hand crossing with fertile pollen. All of the ms lines experienced seed abortion with or without fruit, except for ‘ms-5’, which produced seed.