Opuntia ficus indica

A normally spineless variety of Opuntia cactus with large fruits growing on each pad. This species of cactus is grown world-wide to feed people, livestock and to restore degraded soils.

Opuntia ficus indica (prickly pear) was bred to be spineless by Luther Burbank in California in the early part of the 20th century. This spineless cultivar has spread around the world and is used principally as livestock feed throughout arid regions. It's fruit (including the peels) has many applications as a consumable, as well as applications in pharmaceuticals. The seeds render a valuable oil and can be ground into flour for baking. It's fibrous pads are also used to create bio-fuel and synthetic leather.

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Publications

Below is a list of research papers pertaining to this crop.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 47 publications.

Published	Title/Abstract	Authors	Journal
1878	Bulletin of The Torrey Botanical Club. New York, Feb., 1818 § 2I4. Opuntia Ficus-Indica, DC.-It may not be out of place to note a few things about the Opuntia Ficus-Indica, of Southern Italy and other Mediterranean countries. Its main use...	Isaac Hollister Hall, LL. B., Ph. D.	The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society
1975	Titratable Acids in Opuntia ficus indica L. Accumulation of acidity in spiny and spineless Opuntia joints jluctuated daily due to crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in Golan Height and coastal plain. The acidity reached higher concentrations in...	Sigmund J. Ellern, Ph.D. Yochai B. Samish, Ph.D.
1980	Biophysical properties of Opuntia ficus-indica mucilage The purified mucilage from Opuntia ficus-indica is a high MW polysaccharide which behaves as a polyelectrolyte. Viscosity of its solution is dependent on the Ca²⁺ ion concentration and on...	Shlomo Trachtenberg, Ph.D. Alfred M. Mayer, Ph.D.	Phytochemistry
1993	CO2 Exchange and Growth of the Crassulacean Acid Metabolism CO2 uptake, water vapor conductance, and biomass production of Opuntia ficus-indica, a Crassulacean acid metabolism species, were studied at CO2 concentrations of 370, 520, and 720 pL 1-' i n...	Muyi Cui, Ph.D. Patsy M. Miller, Ph.D. Park S. Nobel, Ph.D.
1996	Native Cultivars of Cactus Pear in México Cactus pears or prickly pears (Opuntia spp. Cactaceae) are omnipresent plants of the Mexican landscape and have great historical and ethnobotanical significance. Ripe fruits and tender cladodes (pads), have been...	Candelario Mondragon-Jacobo, Ph.D. S. Perez-Gonzalez, Ph.D.
1999	Frugivorous Drosophila simulans begins to exploit Opuntia ficus-indica cladodes The introduction of exotic plants creates potential new niches for endemic animals. European tradespeople brought the cactus Opuntia ficus-indica in the 16th century from Mexico to Europe to serve...	Karel Th. Eisses, Ph.D. Ian C. W. Hardy, Ph.D. Mauro Santos, Ph.D. Adam Leibowitz, Ph.D.
2002	Fodder Potential Of Opuntia Ficus-Indica The objective of this study was to investigate the fodder potential of Opuntia ficus-indica. Samples taken from a plant grown in a greenhouse were analysed for DM, ash, CP,...	Firew Tegegne Amogne, Ph.D.
2003	Oil cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica L.) Seeds and pulp of cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica L.) were compared in terms of fatty acids, lipid classes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins and b-carotene. Total lipids (TL) in lyophilised seeds and...	Jōrg-Thomas Mōrsel, Ph.D. Mohamed Fawzy Ramadan, Ph.D.
2006	Forage Potential of Opuntia Clones Short term gas exchange measurements and long term field trials have confirmed the several fold greater water to dry matter conversion efficiency of cactus than C3 and C4 plants. The...	Sanjeet Kumar, Ph.D. Rajbala Soni, Ph.D.
2006	Cactus Pear Production Systems In Tigray, Northern Ethiopia Ethiopia has some of the lowest socioeconomic indicators in the world. About 90% of the population earn their living mainly from agricultural activities, which are mostly based on rainfed...	Firew Tegegne Amogne, Ph.D. Candelario Mondragon-Jacobo, Ph.D.
2007	Physicochemical Characterization of Nopal Pads (Opuntia ficus indica) and Dry Vacuum Nopal Powders as a Function of the Maturation This paper presents the physicochemical and nutrimental characterization of fresh nopal (Opuntia ficus indica, Redonda variety) and nopal powder produced at different stages of development. Nopal powder was obtained...	Alicia Real del López, Ph.D.
2010	NOPAL (Opuntia ficus indica L.), DELICIOSO Y MEDICINAL La planta de nopal tiene su origen en México, pero tiene una distribución muy amplia ya que se encuentra de manera natural en toda América y presente en los...	Moisés Agustín Blanco-Navarro, MSc.
2010	Opuntia Ficus-Indica as an Extremophile Opuntia Ficus-Indica as an Extremophile	Gertrud Konings, Ph.D.
2011	Evaluation of oxalates and calcium in nopal pads (Opuntia ficus-indica var. redonda) at different maturity stages The content of calcium oxalate and calcium in powder from Opuntia ficus-indica (nopal pad) was investigated. Atomic absorption spectrometry was used to evaluate the calcium and calcium oxalate contents....	Alicia Real del López, Ph.D.
2011	Development of a regeneration protocol through indirect organogenesis An indirect organogenesis regeneration protocol for Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill var “Blanco sin Espinas” is described. One centimeter square cladode explants sections from previously micropropagated prickly pear plants were cultured...	Paola Isabel Angulo-Bejarano, Ph.D. Octavio Paredes-López, Ph.D.
2012	Pharmacological Actions of opuntia ficus indica Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) belongs to the family Cactaceae. Family Cactaceae is reported to contain about 130 genera and nearly 1500 species. This plant is native of Mexico and it is...	Manpreet Kaur, Ph.D. Amandeep Kaur, Ph.D. Ramica Sharma, Ph.D.
2012	Nopal Cactus (Opuntia Ficus-Indica) as a Holographic Material The nopal cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) releases a substance through its mucilage, which comes from the degradation of pectic substances and chlorophyll. Combined in a polyvinyl alcohol matrix, this substance can...	Arturo Olivares-Pérez, Ph.D. Santa Toxqui-López, Ph.D. Ana L. Padilla-Velasco, Ph.D.
2014	Antileishmanial activity of Opuntia ficus-indica fractions Cladodes and fruits of Opuntia ficus-indica are used in traditional medicine for the treatment of abscess and skin inflammation. It was therefore interesting to assess whether an antileishmanial activity...	A. Bargougui, Ph.D. P. Champy, Ph.D. S. Triki, Ph.D. C. Bories, Ph.D. P. Le Pape, Ph.D. P. M. Loiseau, Ph.D.
2015	Characterization of crystalline structures in Opuntia ficus-indica This research studies the crystalline compounds present in nopal (Opuntia ficus- indica) cladodes. The identification of the crystalline structures was performed using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, mass spectrometry, and...	Margarita Contreras-Padilla, Ph.D. Eric M. Rivera-Muñoz, Ph.D. Elsa Gutiérrez-Cortez, Ph.D. Alicia Real del López, Ph.D. Mario Enrique Rodríguez-García, Ph.D.
2015	Characterization of Calcium Compounds in Opuntia ficus indica as a Source of Calcium for Human Diet Analyses of calcium compounds in cladodes, soluble dietary fiber (SDF), and insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) of Opuntia ficus indica are reported. The characterization of calcium compounds was performed by...	Alicia Real del López, Ph.D.

Pages

Books

Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 works.

	Manual of Methods for Soil and Land Evaluation: One of the primary functions of soil is that of buffering, filtration and transformation of many substances including pollutants. This function is of primary importance when dealing with land...
	Emerging Natural Hydrocolloids: Rheology and Functions In today’s health-conscious climate, the demand for natural food products is growing all the time. Natural hydrocolloids, therefore, have never been more popular. With their thickening, stabilizing, gelling, fat...
	Luther Burbank's Spineless Cactus To give each purchaser a guarantee of receiving original Burbank productions this corporation has originated a trade mark. The name “Burbank” has been so indiscriminately and fraudulently used that...

Attributes

Plant attributes.

Plant Type:

Cactus

Crop Part Used:

Crop Use:

Attribution

Links to outside information.

Attribution/Links:

Wikipedia

Nopal Cactus: Sustainable Food of the Future?

Common cactus could be used to clean water

The Mythic Nopal Cactus Is Our New Favorite Edible Green

Mexico's prickly pear cactus: energy source of the future?

UN dishes up prickly pear cactus in answer to food security

Native Cultivars of Cactus Pear in México

Eating Cactus: Prickly Pear for Food

Common cactus could be used to clean water

arizona.edu

Plants for a Future (pfaf.org)

Insect wreaks havoc on Tunisia’s crucial prickly pear industry

Eating Cactus: Prickly Pear for Food

CANOTIA: An Arizona journal publishing botanical and mycological papers

SEINET - Arizona - New Mexico Chapter

The Universal Protein Resource (UniProt)

Crop Link Source:

Nopal Cactus: A Sustainable Food of the Future

Pests

Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 pests.

	Drosophila simulans This species was discovered by the fly geneticist Alfred Sturtevant in 1919, when he noticed that the flies used in Thomas Hunt Morgan's laboratory at the Columbia University were...
	Armillaria mellea (armillaria root rot) Armillaria root rot is a fungal root rot caused by several different members of the genus Armillaria. The symptoms are variable depending on the host infected, ranging from stunted...
	Dactylopius coccus costa Dactylopius is a genus of insect in the superfamily Coccoidea, the scale insects. It is the only genus in the family Dactylopiidae. These insects are known commonly as cochineals,...
	Cactoblastis cactorum Cactoblastis cactorum, the cactus moth, South American cactus moth or nopal moth, is native to Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and southern Brazil. It is one of five species in the...

Diseases

Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 diseases.

Pectobacterium carotovorum (bacterial soft rot)

The species is a plant pathogen with a diverse host range, including many agriculturally and scientifically important plant species. It produces pectolytic enzymes that hydrolyze pectin between individual plant...

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