Experiment was conducted during two consecutive years (2009 & 2010) in order to study "Effect of some agricultural treatments on Jatropha curcas cultivated under Aeolian deposits" at Toshka Research Station, of the Desert Research Center (DRC) in Aswan. The experiment conducted in randomized blocks with split-split plot design. The studied treatments were three: drip irrigation 12, 8, and 4Lh-1 (main plot), nitrogen (sub plot) with rates of 30, 60 & 90 kgfed-1 and sulfur (sub-sub plot) with rates of 15 and 30 kgfed-1. Each treatment was replicated three times. There was a reference treatment of no-N, no-S and irrigated by 4 Lh-1).
Soil moisture (Saturation percent), temperature, acidity, salinity, cation exchange capacity, organic matter, and available N, P and K) were determined. Growth characteristics of plant height, stem diameter, crown cover and crown volume were also determined. Fruits yield/tree, fruits yield/fed, seed yield/tree, seed yield/fed, oil yield/fed and biodiesel yield l/fed) were also determined. Content of oil, protein in seeds, as well as NPK uptake were also determined.
Jatropha shrubs, which were irrigated and treated with nitrogen and sulfur, played an important role in improving soil physical and chemical characteristics. There was a significant increase with increasing of irrigation, nitrogen and sulfur on both vegetative and yield characteristics and yield of seeds, contents of seed oil and protein, and uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. No significant differences were found in the effect of two rates of irrigation 12 and 8Lh-1) in most vegetative growth and yield characteristics of jatropha shrubs. Generally, the highest values for both vegetative growth and yield characteristics of jatropha shrubs were found at the application rate of 30kg of S under 90kg of N at the irrigation rate 12lh-1.