using Spring JdbcTemplate - injecting datasource vs jdbcTemplate

In the spring-context.xml add the following and

<bean id="jdbcTemplate" class="org.springframework.jdbc.core.JdbcTemplate">
    <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource"/>
</bean>

and directly you can use jdbcTemplate by autowiring like

  @Autowired JdbcTemplate jdbcTemplate;

example:

this.jdbcTemplate.query("select * from ******",new RowMapper());

You can do what you want. The javadoc of JdbcTemplate even clearly says it:

Can be used within a service implementation via direct instantiation with a DataSource reference, or get prepared in an application context and given to services as bean reference.