Effect of Clonal Variation on Oil Content and Oil Properties of Calophyllum inophyllum L: A Multi Purpose Tree
R. Anandalakshmi *
Forest Genetic Resources Management Division, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education), P.B. No. 1061, Forest Campus, RS Puram, Coimbatore-641002, India.
V. Sivakumar
Genetics and Tree Improvement Division, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, India.
A. Vijayaraghavan
Forest Genetic Resources Management Division, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, India.
K. Suresh Kumar
Forest Genetic Resources Management Division, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, India.
C. Rajesh
Forest Genetic Resources Management Division, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, India.
S. Geetha
Forest Genetic Resources Management Division, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Calophyllum inophyllum is a potential source of non-edible seed oil. Calophyllum oil is used as a biofuel and also for medicinal purposes. At the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore carried out a study in 2019, on five different clones of C. inophyllum to investigate the effect of clonal variabilty on oil yield and oil physico-chemical properties for use as a biofuel. Oil yield significantly varied among the five clones and ranged from 48.6% to 55.8%. Among the physical properties, except Kinematic Viscosity, Specific Gravity and Refractive Index, the properties such as Flash point, Fire point, Pour point and Cloud point did not vary significantly. However, all the chemical properties studied, such as Acid value, Saponification value, Iodine value and Peroxide value showed apparent variation. From the study it could be derived that clone 15 is more suitable as tree crop for biofuel purpose and the variations among the clones indicate prevalence of scope for tree improvement of C. inophyllum for specific use.
Keywords: Calophyllum, oil yield, viscosity, biofuel, acid value, specific gravity, peroxide value