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Path analysis was done on different morphological, physiological and oil quality traits of 15, six-years old candidate plus trees of Jatropha curcas to assess their direct and indirect effect on oil yield. Principal component analysis was subsequently done to assess the pattern of the variations in characters and segregate the traits to distinguish parental accessions for plant improvement. Total chlorophyll had a positive direct effect on oil yield and also had indirect effect through single seed weight, single fruit weight and oil content. Male to female flower ratio had negligible direct effect on oil yield but had considerable indirect effect through seed yield per plant. Seed weight, fruit weight and seed yield plant −1 had a high direct effect on oil yield and also had indirect effect through oil content and thus found suitable for direct selection. The first five principal components contributed 75.5% of the total variability. The accessions JCN14, JCN08 and JCN09 had very high values for the first component, while JCN04 and JCN05 had lower values for all these variables.

Key message Variability in traits of 15, diverse 6-year-old candidate plus trees ofJatropha curcaswas determined to identify the best gain heritable traits correlating with oil yield forJatrophaimprovement.

Jatropha curcas is a potential biofuel crop and press cake is an important co-product obtained during biodiesel production. In order to assess the long-term effects of application of Jatropha press cake on soil quality parameters and to evaluate its efficacy as an organic manure, a field trial was carried out in degraded wasteland of Gujarat, India with four treatments chosen on the basis of equivalent amounts of N supply through urea, Jatropha press cake, farmyard manure (FYM) and half dose of urea. The activities of various exocellular enzymes involved in nutrient cycling, microbial biomass carbon, respiration, fluorescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolysis and the influence of chemical composition of the organic manures on these parameters were studied following seven continuous years of application of nutrient amendments. Degradation of the phorbols, toxins present in press cake, was also studied. Except for acid phosphomonoesterase, enzyme activities were higher in FYM compared to other treatments. Lignin content was higher in FYM while the ligno-cellulosic fraction was higher by 45% in press cake as compared to FYM. Notably, carbon accumulation in soil was higher per unit of applied carbon in press cake treated soil. Ratio of microbial biomass carbon to soil organic carbon was higher in press cake amended soil. Phorbol esters were degraded to negligible amounts. The increase in yield of Jatropha following improved enzyme activities, microbial carbon and FDA hydrolysis owing to press cake application in erstwhile poor soils unequivocally establishes the scope of Jatropha press cake in reclaiming unfertile wastelands sustainably.

Kinetics of transport of the acridine derivative 4'-(9-acridinylamino)-methanesulfon-m-anisidide (m-AMSA) were examined in P388 murine leukemia cells and in P388/ADR, a subline selected for adriamycin resistance and cross-resistant to a variety of drugs including m-AMSA. Compared with the drug-responsive parent cell line, P388/ADR cells showed impaired accumulation of m-AMSA and an enhanced rate of drug exodus. Competition studies demonstrated structural specificity of the outward transport process. There was a low degree of intracellular m-AMSA binding, and steady-state drug levels were reached in less than 1 min. These results suggest that m-AMSA will be a useful probe for studying transport systems associated with anthracycline resistance.