One part of LIRE’s current gene pool of Jatropha cultivars comes from the project Monitoring Program on existing plantation (Project 1.1), where progenies from different origins are planted in one field. LIRE staff collected seeds from each of the 21 elite plants separately, after measuring them for the data collection. Together with the data from the monitoring, LIRE now has a selection of well documented plants. Cuttings from plants on the field were also taken and planted in the LIRE nursery to prepare them for transplanting to the motherplant nursery. Furthermore, an additional selection of plants from this plantation took place twice in the 2007 vegetation period. The selection of plants with late and simultaneous maturing of seeds was the main objective.

In order to increase the variety of Jatropha plants, LIRE accomplished a collection of wild plants from the northern part of Laos in November 2007. LIRE team members went for 10 days to different provinces for collecting seeds and cuttings from interesting Jatropha plants in villages. Most plants could be found in hedges of farmers or big trees in backyards. The collection also included a documentation of plant parameters and environmental conditions as well as defined labelling so that the plant can be identified again. A similar trip for identification of wild plants was done in the southern part of Laos.