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Ricinus communis L.
Euphorbiaceae
Castorbean
Source: James A. Duke. 1983. Handbook of Energy Crops. unpublished.
- Uses
- Folk Medicine
- Chemistry
- Toxicity
- Description
- Germplasm
- Distribution
- Ecology
- Cultivation
- Harvesting
- Yields and Economics
- Energy
- Biotic Factors
- References
Castorbean is cultivated for the seeds which yield a fast-drying, non-yellowing
oil, used mainly in industry and medicines. Oil used in coating fabrics and
other protective coverings, in the manufacture of high-grade lubricants,
transparent typewriter and printing inks, in textile dyeing (when converted
into sulfonated Castor Oil or Turkey-Red Oil, for dyeing cotton fabrics with
alizarine), in leather preservation, and in the production of 'Rilson', a
polyamide nylon-type fiber. Dehydrated oil is an excellent drying agent which
compares favorably with tung oil and is used in paints and varnishes.
Hydrogenated oil is utilized in the manufacture of waxes, polishes, carbon
paper, candles and crayons. 'Blown Oil' is used for grinding lacquer paste
colors, and when hydrogenated and sulfonated used for preparation of ointments.
Castor Oil Pomace, the residue after crushing, is used as a high-nitrogen
fertilizer. Although it is highly toxic due to the ricin, a method of
detoxicating the meal has now been found, so that it can safely be fed to
livestock. Stems are made into paper and wallboard (Reed, 1976).
Considered anodyne, antidote, aperient, bactericide, cathartic, cyanogenetic,
discutient, emetic, emollient, expectorant, insecticide, lactagogue,
larvicidal, laxative, POISON, purgative, tonic, and vermifuge, castor or
castoroil is a dangerous ingredient in folk remedies for abscess, anasarca,
arthritis, asthma, boils, burns, cancer, carbuncles, catarrh, chancre, cholera,
cold, colic, convulsions, corns, craw-craw, deafness, delirium, dermatitis,
dogbite, dropsy, epilepsy, erysipelas, fever, flu, gout, guineaworm, headache,
inflammation, moles, myalgia, nerves, osteomyelitis, palsy, parturition,
prolapse, puerperium, rash, rheumatism, scald, scrofula, seborrhea, skin,
sores, stomachache, strabismus, swellings, toothaches, tuberculosis, tumors,
urethritis, uteritis, venereal disease, warts, whitlows, and wounds. The oil
and seed have been used as folk remedies for: warts, cold tumors, indurations
of the abdominal organs, whitlows, lacteal tumors, indurations of the mammary
gland, corns, and moles, etc. Castor-oil is a cathartic and has labor-inducing
properties. Ricinoleic acid has served in contraceptive jellies. Ricin, a
toxic protein in the seeds, acts as a blood coagulant. Oil used externally for
dermatitis and eye ailments. Seeds, which yield 4550% of a fixed oil, also
contain the alkaloids ricinine and toxalbumin ricin, and considered purgative,
counter-irritant in scorpion-sting and fish poison. Leaves applied to the head
to relieve headache and as a poultice for boils. (Duke and Wain, 1981).
Per 100 g, the leaves are reported to contain on a zero-moisture basis, 24.8 g
protein, 5.4 g fat, 57.4 g total carbohydrate, 10.3 g fiber, 12.4 g ash, 2,670
mg Ca, and 460 mg P. The seed contains 5.15.6% moisture, 12.016.0% protein,
45.050.6% oil, 3.17.0 NFE, 23.127.2% CF, and 2.02.2% ash. Seeds are high
in phosphorus, 90% in the phytic form. The castor oil consists principally of
ricinoleic acid with only small amounts of dihydroxystearic, linoleic, oleic,
and stearic acids. The unsaponifiable matter contains b-sitosterol. The
oil-cake from crushing whole seeds contain 9.0% moisture, 6.5% oil, 20.5%
protein, 49.0% total carbohydrate and 15.0% ash. The manural value is 6.6% N,
2.6% P2O5, and 1.2% K2O (C.S.I.R., 19481976). There are 60 mg/kg uric acid
and 7 ppm HCN in the seed. The seeds contain a powerful lipase, employed for
commercial hydrolysis of fats, also amylase, invertase, maltase, endotrypsin,
glycolic acid, oxidase, ribonuclease, and a fat-soluble zymogen. Sprouting
seeds contain catalase, peroxidase and reductase.
The seeds contain 2.83% toxic substances, 2.520 seed killing a man, 4 a
rabbit, 5 a sheep, 6 an ox, 6 a horse, 7 a pig, 11 a dog, but 80 for
cocks and ducks. The principal toxin is the albumin, ricin. However, it
produces antigenic or immunizing activity, producing in small doses an
antitoxin analagous to that produced against bacteria.
Coarse perennial, 1013 m tall in the tropics, with the stem 7.515 cm in
diam., but usually behaves as an annual in the temperate regions 13 m tall;
stems succulent, herbaceous, very variable in all aspects; leaves alternate,
orbicular, palmately compound, 16 dm broad, with 611 toothed lobes, glabrous;
flowers numerous in long inflorescences, with male flowers at the base and
female flowers at the tips; petals absent in both sexes, sepals 35, greenish;
stamens numerous, 510 mm long; ovary superior, 3-celled with a short style and
3 stigmas; fruit a globose capsule 2.5 cm in diameter, on an elongated pedicel,
usually spiny, green turning brown on ripening, indehiscent in modern
cultivars, usually containing 3 seeds; seeds ovoid, tick-like, shiny, 0.51.5
cm long, carunculate, vari-color with base color white, gray, brownish, yellow,
brown, red, or black, with the outer pattern gray or brown to black, the
pattern varying from fine to coarse, veined or finely dotted to large
splotches, poisonous and allergenic, possibly fatel, from 1,000 to 11,000 per
kg, commercial varieties having 2200 to 3200 per kg (Reed, 1976).
Reported from the African Center of Diversity, castorbean or cvs thereof is
reported to tolerate bacteria, disease, drought, fungi, high pH, heat, insects,
laterite, low pH, mycobacteria, nematodes, poor soil, salt, slope, smog, SO2,
virus, weed, wind, and wilt. (Duke, 1978). Many cvs developed; two of the
best commercial ones are: 'Conner' and 'Kansas Common', which give from 51.3 to
55.6% oil. (2n = 20)
Probably native to Africa, Castorbean has been introduced and is cultivated in
many tropical and subtropical areas of the world, frequently appearing
spontaneously.
Ranging from Cool Temperate Moist to Wet through Tropical Desert to Wet Forest
Life Zones, castorbean is reported to tolerate annual precipitation of 2.0 to
42.9 dm (mean of 68 cases = 12.7) annual temperature of 7.0 to 27.8°C (mean
of 68 cases = 20.4) and pH of 4.5 to 8.3 (mean of 29 cases = 6.5). Grows best
where temperatures are rather high throughout the season, but seed may fail to
set if it is above 38°C for an extended period. Plant requires 140180 day
growing season and is readily killed by frost. Irrigated crops require 23.5
acre-feet of water to produce satisfactory yields. High humidity contributes
to the development of diseases. Plants do best on fertile, well-drained soils
which are neither alkaline nor saline; sandy and clayey loam being best.
Castor is propagated entirely by seed treated to resist disease. Seeds retain
their viability 23 years. After seedbed has been deeply cultivated, seed of
the dwarf cvs in mechanized countries are planted 3.77.5 cm deep in rows 1 m
apart; seeds about 25 cm apart in the rows; at rate of 15 kg/ha. For
unmechanized societies which prefer larger cvs, seeds are planted 60 by 90 cm
apart, 24 seeds per hole, and then thinned to one plant; this gives about
30,000 plants/ha. Cultivate shallowly until 0.60.9 m high. Irrigation is
usual practice in the United States; in India castor is a dryland crop. Castor
exhausts the soil quickly. In the United States 45135 kg/ha of nitrogen is
added in split applications. Leaves, stalks and seed hulls are disked into the
field following harvest. In India 89 kg/ha of nitrogen gives the highest
yields. Where phosphorus is deficient, 4050 kg/ha of P2O5 is recommended. In
Australia 200 kg/ha of superphosphate is applied. Furrow irrigation is
preferred, but subirrigation reduces weed problems. Normally irrigation
commences after plants have 68 leaves; overirrigation on heavy soils should be
avoided; final irrigation should be 34 weeks before harvest. In the United
States 1,500 to 2,000 cu m of water per hectare is applied during the growing
season. In Brazil 2,400 cu m of water is applied during the 3 months between
flowering and harvest, with about 400 cu m being applied at each irrigation at
15 day intervals. Seed may be planted by hand or with a corn planter with
special plates, after the soil has become warm and out of danger of frost.
Time varies with the locality; Illinois, early May; Venezuela, JuneJuly;
Australia, AugustDecember; Morocco, March; Brazil (south), SeptemberNovember;
Brazil (north), JanuaryMarch; India, July; Taiwan, AugustSeptember or
AprilMay. For seed increase, castor should be planted on fallow land, and
should not follow small grains or another castor crop. In India it is rotated
with ragi, groundnuts, cotton, dryland chillies, tobacco or horsegram (Reed,
1976).
Non-mechanized societies prefer shattering cvs, as opposed to the non-dehiscent
dwarf strains developed in the United States. Fruits are harvested when fully
mature and the leaves are dry, in about 95180 days depending on the cv. In
tropics, harvest is from wild or native plants. Planting and harvesting may be
done by hand methods or be completely mechanized. Harvesting should begin
before rainy season in tropical regions, but in dry regions it is best to
harvest when all fruits are mature. In India fruit is picked in November; in
the United States harvesting begins in October. In the tropics most harvesting
is by hand; the spikes are cut or broken off, the capsules stripped off into a
wagon or sled, or into containers strapped on the workers. Unless the capsules
are dry, they must be spread out to dry quickly. In India fruits are collected
and spread in piles to dry in the sun until they blacken. In the United States
drying may be accomplished by frost or by the use of defoliants; chemical
defoliants are also used in Australia. In South Africa and Australia modified
wheat headers are used for harvesting; in the United States more expensive
harvesters are used which shake capsules from plants by jarring plants at their
bases. Relative humidity of 45% or less is required for efficient operation
with mechanical harvesters. Seed capsules shatter easily in most cvs. Some
indehiscent varieties are threshed by ordinary grain thresher at 400800 r.p.m.
cylinder speed. After harvesting, seeds must be removed from the capsules or
hulls, usually with hulling machines if capsules are dry. Percentage of seed
to hull averages 6575, depending upon the maturity of the seed at harvest. In
India seeds are beaten out with sticks, winnowed and screened to remove hulls
and trash. In South Africa, Brazil and the United States seed is decorticated
with special castorbean decorticators. When small amounts of seed are
involved, they may be decorticated on a rubbing board. An ordinary thresher is
rarely suitable since the beater bar or peg drums break up the soft seeds.
Castor oil is manufactured by running cleaned seed through the decorticating
machines to remove the seed coat from the kernel; the more complete this
operation the lighter the oil. Castor seeds cannot be ground or tempered as
flaxseed or soybeans. Unbroken or uncrushed seeds should be gotten to the
press. Preheating may make heavy viscous oil more mobile. Seed is put in
'cage' press, and number 1 oil is obtained, which needs little refining but has
to be bleached. Oil remaining in the press-cake is extracted by solvent
methods and is called number III oil, which contains impurities, and cannot be
effectively refined. Castorbean oil can be stored 34 years without
deterioration.
Average seed yields range from 9001000 kg/ha under irrigation, and 300400
kg/ha without adequate moisture. Some improved open-pollinated varieties in
Brazil and the United States yield 1,300 kg/ha, with exceptional yields up to
5,000 kg/ha. Average Indian yields are 560 kg/ha. Oil content of seeds varies
from 35 to 55%, suggesting potential oil yields of 2002,750 kg/ha. In
February 1982, the U.S. Bureau of Census noted "surprising" castor oil
consumption. In the U.S. nearly 4,000 MT of the oil was used, an increase of
ca 1,500 MT over January. In April of 1982, prices ranged from 42 to 72 cents
per pound (92 to $1.58/kg) depending on quality and grade (CMR, April 26,
1982). During and since World War II, castor production increased in South
America, Thailand and Haiti. In 1952, about 50,000 kg of castor oil was
imported in the United States, mostly from India, Belgium, West Germany,
Holland, Peru, Manchuria, China, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and Paraguay; and
65,000,000 kg of seeds, mostly from Brazil, Ecuador, Thailand, India, Haiti and
Ethiopia. World production was 723,000 MT on 1,285,000 kg, yielding 560 kg/ha.
Wholesale prices for beans in 1969 from India was 15.2 cents/kg and from Europe
16.6 cents/kg. In 1971 prices from Brazil were $293/T. Prices vary: Italy
93.1 cents/kg producer price; Spain 66.6 cents/kg, export price; and the United
States 85.3 cents/kg, import price. In 1970 more than 469,000 MT of oil was
produced in the world, representing about 1% of the oil market. The 1980
projection was for 554,000 MT, which is a 4.2% increase.
Gaydou et al. (1982) rank oilseeds more promising for energy in Malagasy than
sugarcane and cassava. Castor was least promising of the four oilseeds,
producing 1,2002,000 liters oil/ha (equivalent to 11,300 to 18,906 kwh)
compared to tung at 1,8002,700 l, purging nut at 2,1002,800 l, and oilpalm at
2,6004,000 l/ha. They calculated ca 1,000 l ethanol for cassava and 2,500 for
sugarcane. Yields of 5 MT seeds are reported. When the oil is expressed, the
oil cake remaining amounts to 4550% of production (Devendra and Raghavan,
1978). In some of the dwarf temperate trees (treated as annuals), the straw
factor is not much more than one, but perennial tropical trees may have a
standing biomass of 25 MT/ha or more. The hull residue is calculated at 0.25
times production. Hulls have about the same fertilizer value as fresh barnyard
manure.
Castor bean is both self- and cross-pollinated by wind, varying from 536%
depending on the weather conditions. Pollen sheds readily between 2629°C,
with a relative humidity of 60%. For single cross hybrid seed production,
strains giving a 1:1 ratio or pistillate and heterozygous monoecious plants are
used, the latter being rogued 15 days before flowering begins. Three-way
cross hybrids can also be used. For open pollinated types, roguing of all
off-types is done after the last cultivation, and for pure seed production
isolation necessity depends on the wind velocity. For hybrid and open
pollinated types in the United States, stands are isolated 300720 m, but in
areas of less wind velocity, less distance may be sufficient. Fungi known to
attack Castorbean plants include: Alternaria compacta, A. ricini, A. tenuis,
A. tenuissima, Aspergillus itaconicus, A. niger, A. quercinus, Botrydiplodia
manilensis, B. ricinicola, B. theobromae, Botryotinia ricini, Botrysphaeria
ribis, Botrytis cinerea (Gary mold), Cephalosporium curtipes, Cercospora
canescens, C. coffeae, C. ricinella, Cercosporella ricinella (Leaf
spot), Cladosporium herbarum, Clitocybe tabescens, Colletotrichum bakeri, C.
erumpens, C. ricini, Corticium solani, Didymella ricini, Diplodia natalensis,
D. organicola, D. ricinella, D. ricini, Discosporella phaeochlorina, Epicoccum
nigrum, Erysiphe cichoracearum, Fusarium moniliforme, F. orthoceras, F.
oxysporum, F. sambucinum, F. semitectum, Gibberella pulicarus, Glomerella
cingulata, G. ricini, Haplosporella manilensis, Lecanidion atratum, Leveillula
lanata, L. taurica, Macrophomina phaseoli, Macrophoma phaseoli, Ph. ricini,
Macrosporium cavarae, M. ricini, Melampsora euphorbiae, M. ricini,
Melampsorella ricini, Mecrostroma minimum, Mucor fragilis, Mycosporella
ricinicola, M. tulasnei, Myrothecium roridum, Oidiopsis taurica, Peniophora
cinerea, Phoma macropyrena, Ph. ricini, Phomopsis ricini, Ph. ricinella,
Phyllosticta bosensis, Ph. ricini, Phymatotrichum omnivorum (Root rot),
Physalospora abdita, Ph. propinqua, Ph. rhodina, Ph. ricini, Ph. obtusa,
Phytophthora cactorum, Ph. cinnamomi, Ph. palmivora, Ph. parasitica, Pleospora
herbarum, Pythium aphanidermatum, P. debaryanum, P. gracile, P. intermedium, P.
proliferum, P. ultimum, P. vexans, Rhabdospora ricini, Rhizoctonia solani,
Schiffnerula ricini, Schizophyllum commune, Sclerotinia fuckeliana, S. minor,
S. ricini, S. sclerotiorum, Scierotium rolfsii, sphaceloma ricini. The
following bacteria also cause diseases: Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Bacterium
lathyri, B. ricini, Pseudomonas solanacearum, Xanthomonas ricini, X.
ricinicola. Striga lutea parasitizes the plants. Nematodes isolated from
Castorbean include: Aphelenchoides asterocaudatus, A. bicaudatus, A.
subtenuis, Helicotylenchus cavenssi, H. pseudorobustus, H. schachtii,
Meloidogyne arenaria and var. thamesi, M. hapla, M. incognita, M.
incognita acrita, M. javanica, M. thamesi, Merlinius brevidens, Pratylenchus
brachyurus, P. neglectus, P. pratensis, P. scribner, P. vulnus, P. zeae,
Radopholus similes, Scutellonema clathricaudatum, Tricephalobus
longicaudatus, and Tylenchorhychus mashhoodi (Golden, p.c. 1984).
Several insects are pests. In India the Capsule borer (Dichocrocis
punctiferalis) bores into young and ripening capsules; and the Castor
semilooper (Achoea janata) are the worst pests. In Tanganyika damage by
capsid and myrid bugs are a limiting factor causing immature fruit to drop.
Green stinkbugs, leaf-hoppers, leaf-miners and grasshoppers are pests that feed
on the leaves. Most insects may be controlled by insecticides. Because some
of the varieties are quite tall, wind storms are a potential hazard to a crop.
- C.S.I.R. (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research). 19481976. The wealth
of India. 11 vols. New Delhi.
- Devendra, C. and Raghavan, G.V. 1978. Agricultural by-products in South East
Asia: availability, utilization and potential value. World Rev. Anim. Prod.
14(4):1127.
- Duke, J.A. 1978. The quest for tolerant germplasm. p. 161. In: ASA Special
Symposium 32, Crop tolerance to suboptimal land conditions. Am. Soc. Agron.
Madison, WI.
- Duke, J.A. and Wain, K.K. 1981. Medicinal plants of the world. Computer index
with more than 85,000 entries. 3 vols.
- Gaydou, A.M., Menet, L., Ravelojaona, G., and Geneste, P. 1982. Vegetable
energy sources in Madagascar: ethyl alcohol and oil seeds (French). Oleagineux
37(3):135141.
- Reed, C.F. 1976. Information summaries on 1000 economic plants. Typescripts
submitted to the USDA.
Complete list of references for Duke, Handbook of Energy Crops
Last update Friday, January 9, 1998 by aw