Variability assessment in Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre germplasm for biodiesel traits

Wide variability in oil content was observed in 75 germplasm accessions of Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre collected from Telengana region of Andhra Pradesh, India. Out of these, fatty acid profiles of 21 accessions with varying seed oil content were examined. Large variation was observed in stearic, oleic and linoleic fatty acid composition i.e. 1.83-11.50%, 46.66-65.35% and 12.02-32.58% respectively while less variation i.e. 9.25-12.87% was found with palmitic acid content. Saponification number (SN), iodine value (IV) and cetane number (CN) of fatty acid methyl esters of oils varied from 183.3 to 200.91, 74.78 to 100.98 and 50.85 to 59.11 respectively. Fatty acid composition, IV and CN were used to predict the quality of fatty acid methyl esters of oil for use as biodiesel. Fatty acid methyl esters of oils of P. pinnata accessions DORPP 49, 72 and 83 were found most suitable (CN more than 56.6) for use as biodiesel and they meet the major specification of biodiesel standards of USA, Germany and European Standard Organization. The range of variability found for various biodiesel standards in accessions of P. pinnata can be utilized for the establishment of plantations of promising genotypes through clonal means for increased productivity. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.