Crop Science and Agriculture

Jatropha curcas L is an undomesticated plant species that has recently received great attention for its utilization in biofuel production in many countries including Botswana. Th e experiment investigated 30 Jatropha curcas accessions, and the results revealed high signifi cant diff erences (P<0.01) in the thirty accessions for peduncle length, number of seed per fruit, length of fruit stalk, fruit length, fruit width, seed length and width, seed weight, leaf length and width, petiole length, total fl ower per cluster, female and male fl ower per cluster and number of fruit per. Th e qualitative characters revealed substantial amount of variability among the accessions except in fruit shape, stem color and fl ower color. Multivariate cluster analysis based on morphological characters grouped the accessions into four clusters at dissimilarity coeffi cient of approximately 1.37 indicating a wider variation. Molecular characterization revealed four distinct clusters at 0.85 genetic similarity coeffi cients and this

indicates narrow genetic diversity. Correlation between morphological and molecular markers showed negative, positive and no correlation relationships. Eight morphological characters and six molecular markers correlated positively with r values ranging from 0.557 to 0.662. Th e morphological and molecular markers were both clearly able to cluster the Ghana accession away from the other accessions. Th e morphological characters that separated the Ghana accession from others were seed weight and infl orescence compactness.