Jatropha plants propagated through stem cuttings, direct
seeding, and seedlings rose on several containers (root plugs,
plastic bags of 0.4, 0.6, 1.13, and 1.2 L) were transplanted to
a sandy soil at the beginning of the rainy season (April) and
cultivated under rainfed conditions. The rainy season between
March and August had an average of 102.0 mm month1, corresponding
to 76% of the yearly rain. Between September and
February, the average of rains was 31.8mmmonth1. Average
temperature is 22.3 C from April through September, and
24.3 C from October through March.
A 2 cm slice was cut at the bottom of plastic bags before
transplanting for eliminating the roots accumulated on that
point. Plants were fertilized with 50e50e50 kg ha1 of NPK at
transplanting and at the beginning of rainy season in the
second year. At 18 months after transplanting, the root system
was extracted. Soil around roots was removed by hand as
deep as possible. Most of the root hair was lost. Images of the
root system were used for analysis.