Witt Travis W, Flynn K Colton, Zoz Tiago, Lee Trey O, Monteiro José E B A
USDA-ARS, PA, Grazinglands Research Laboratory, 7207 West Cheyenne Street, El Reno, OK, 73036, USA.
USDA-ARS, PA, Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory, 808 East Blackland Road, Temple, TX, 76502, USA.
Heliyon. 2023 Aug 6;9(8):e18981. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18981. eCollection 2023 Aug.
Castor ( L.) is an important industrial crop with a wide range of industrial and pharmaceutical applications. Brazil is among the largest castor-producing countries. Between 2004 and 2010, castor cultivation was stimulated with an emphasis towards biodiesel production. However, this was not enough to leverage the production of castor in Brazil, mainly due to the lack of structured trade and the competition with other cheaper raw materials for the production of biodiesel. Despite this failure, the species presents itself as an excellent alternative for crop rotation in the second crop among soybean, corn, beans, and cotton cultivation areas as the oil is highly valuable for other products. Moreover, it has drawn the attention of producers and researchers in Brazil for this potential rotation as it is considered a plant tolerant of water-deficiency and is highly susceptible to gray mold, a disease favored by high humidity in the final stages of the crop. For instance, its cultivation in the second crop in Cerrado regions, where rains occur in the early stages of the crop and cease when the plants reach the final stage of production, has been successful and shows great promise. The current study aimed to evaluate the suitability of environments throughout Brazil to grow castor, incorporating variables associated with the incidence of gray mold and confirm these findings based on existing castor trial data obtained from the literature. The site suitability analysis determined that 74.99 million hectares - 8.8% of Brazilian territory - are highly suitable for castor production during second harvest, mostly located in the Northeastern and Midwestern regions. These results are surprising since Brazil currently has around 7.8% (∼66.81 million hectares) of its territory occupied with agriculture (grains, fruits, vegetables, and perennial crops). The findings of this study provide a method to perform site suitability for crops using data associated with agronomic and disease characteristics, as is the case with gray mold that often results in significant losses in castor production. Also, this analysis provides evidence for the great potential of Brazil to increase castor production and meet the world demand for its oil through utilization of second-crop cultivation.
蓖麻（Ricinus communis L.）是一种重要的经济作物，具有广泛的工业和医药用途。巴西是最大的蓖麻生产国之一。在2004年至2010年期间，巴西鼓励蓖麻种植，重点是用于生物柴油生产。然而，这不足以推动巴西的蓖麻生产，主要原因是缺乏结构化贸易以及与其他更便宜的生物柴油生产原料存在竞争。尽管这次尝试失败了，但由于蓖麻油对其他产品具有很高的价值，该物种在大豆、玉米、豆类和棉花种植区作为第二季作物进行轮作时是一个很好的选择。此外，它因其潜在的轮作价值引起了巴西生产者和研究人员的关注，因为它被认为是一种耐旱植物，且在作物生长后期高湿度环境下极易感染灰霉病。例如，在塞拉多地区第二季种植时获得了成功并展现出巨大潜力，该地区作物生长初期降雨，而在植株进入生产后期时降雨停止。本研究旨在评估巴西各地种植蓖麻的适宜性，纳入与灰霉病发病率相关的变量，并根据从文献中获得的现有蓖麻试验数据来证实这些结果。适宜性分析确定，7499万公顷（占巴西领土的8.8%）非常适合第二季收获时种植蓖麻，主要位于东北部和中西部地区。这些结果令人惊讶，因为巴西目前约7.8%（约6681万公顷）的领土用于农业（谷物、水果、蔬菜和多年生作物）。本研究结果提供了一种利用与农艺和病害特征相关的数据来进行作物适宜性分析的方法，就像灰霉病常常导致蓖麻生产遭受重大损失的情况一样。此外，该分析证明了巴西通过利用第二季作物种植来提高蓖麻产量并满足全球对其油需求的巨大潜力。
