Morphological Characterization and Phenological Modeling of Jatropha platyphylla (Euphorbiaceae) Muell. Arg. Genotypes

Morphological characterization and phenological modeling were carried out on genotypes of Jatropha platyphylla collected from the states of Sinaloa and Durango, Mexico. The morphological characterization evidenced the existence of monoecious plants, finding individuals with male and female flowers in the same inflorescence. Fruit with four seeds was also found. The phenological study was divided into two phases and calculated in thermal requirement ( ̊D): Vegetative [seedtime (0), germination (24), emergence (98), cotyledons (87), second (302) and fourth (524) true leaves, end of vegetative growth (302)] and reproductive [flowering (303), fructification (342), maturation (126), defoliation and senescence (450)]. The thermal constant (2558) was similar in all eight genotypes. The phenological stages and the accumulated degree days were adjusted with a third-degree polynomial (Stage = −0.0041x + 0.7446x − 8.6808x + 6.2448) (R = 0.99%) stage. The development of phenological models facilitates the prediction of the flowering date for the selection of varieties with high oil and protein content.