Cactus Varieties Research Articles

Efficacy of cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) varieties as a source of food and feed in Endamehoni District, northern Ethiopia.

Cactus Pear ( Opuntia ficus-indica ) serves as a source of food, feed, as well as a means of additional income to the people in northern Ethiopia. The species has different varieties with varied rate of productivity and palatability. This study was conducted to assess the food and feed value of the Cactus Pear varieties in Endamehoni District, northern Ethiopia. It was carried out in three “Tabias” (small administrative sub-districts) and nine sub-Tabias (also known as “Kushets”). These areas were purposively selected as they are well known for their good diversity of Cactus varieties. A total of one hundred and twenty households (n = 120) were randomly selected for interviews using a semi-structured interview. This was supplemented by information obtained through key informants’ interviews and field visits. The local farmers made the identification and characterization of cactus varieties traditionally based on the outstanding phenotypes like fruit characteristics, seed size and content, cladode descriptors and plant height. A total of 13 Cactus varieties were identified and recorded. To assess the food and feed value and to select the best used varieties in the area, preference rankings were made. It was found that not all varieties were equally edible and palatable. The most serious constraints in palatability were associated with fruit taste, fruit size, presence of spines, and hardness of seeds. The ethnobotanical study on palatability was supplemented by chemical analysis on Dry Matter (DM), Ash, Organic Matter (OM) and Crude Protein (CP) content from two-year-old young cladodes of four Cactus varieties (Kille, Wadwada, Magalla and Limo) that are more preferred for food and feed. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant differences in DM, OM and Ash content at p<0.05 (not at p<0.10). There was no variation in crude protein content amongst the varieties tested. From the results, it is concluded that propagation and use of varieties Kille, Limo, Magalla and Wadwada by farmers of the area is advisable. Keywords: Characterization, Cladode, Community, ethnobotany, fruit, palatability, preference, propagation, traditional knowledge

Alternative foods for small ruminants in semiarid zones, the case of Mesquite (Prosopis laevigata spp.) and Nopal (Opuntia spp.)

This paper provides a summary of studies conducted in our laboratory to evaluate several alternative supplements for goats in semiarid regions. Nutritional characterization was obtained for mesquite pods (Prosopis laevigata) and cacti (Opuntia ficus indica). An initial evaluation was based in comparing the size (or stage of maturity) of the cacti pads (cladodes) of O. ficus indica var. Copena. Different varieties of wild cacti (O. megacantha, O. hyctiacantha, O. robusta and O. streptocanta) were chemically analyzed. Composition of cacti pads varied from 8 to 15% DM, 5 to 7% crude protein (CP), with 10 to 30% of total N represented by CP-ADF, and ash content (7.23%) was highest (P<0.001), whereas O. streptocanta had the highest (P<0.001) Ca content. The mature cladodes had the highest organic matter (OM) digestibility (P<0.01). The intake of cacti cladodes decreased drinking water consumption (P<0.01), but increased total water consumption (drinking and food water). Small cladodes had higher effective degradation of DM (P<0.01), but less effective degradation of CP and neutral detergent fiber (NDF). Mesquite pods had a high content of soluble protein and anti-nutritional factors, which were reduced by roasting the pods. In this experiment the pods were roasted at 150°C during 45min. The roasted mesquite pods resulted in changes (P<0.01) in the OM, CP, NDF and ADF contents; the increase in fiber content appeared to be due to the formation of protein complexes with cell wall carbohydrates. Whereas the CP content was relatively high (12%), the Ca and P contents were low. Both, the mesquite pods and cacti cladodes had low Se and Co concentrations. Roasting decreased effective degradation (P<0.05) of DM, CP and NDF. Digestibility of DM, OM, CP, and NDF contents were above 60%. Roasting did not affect (P>0.05) digestibility or modified the content and activity of anti-nutritional factors. In conclusion, cacti and mesquite pods can be used as supplements for goats in semiarid regions considering their acceptable nutritional characteristics and their capacity to grow under scarce water conditions.

Consumo e comportamento ingestivo de caprinos e ovinos alimentados com palma gigante (&lt;em&gt;Opuntia ficus-indica&lt;/em&gt; Mill) e palma orelha-de-elefante (&lt;em&gt;Opuntia&lt;/em&gt; sp.)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the intake and ingestive behavior of sheep and goats fed with cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica Mill) and prickly pear (Opuntia sp.). Twenty crossbred animals – 10 sheep and 10 goats – were used. They were lodged in a collective shed, contained individually with ropes, distributed using a completely randomized design, and treated with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement (2 animal species and 2 varieties of cactus). Behavioral observations were made at five-minute intervals during a 24-hour period. Dry matter, ether extract, acid detergent fiber, total carbohydrate and non-fibrous carbohydrate intake were reduced (p < 0.05) by prickly pear. There was no effect from cactus variety, animal species or animal species x cactus variety interaction (p > 0.05) on feeding time and feeding efficiency. The time spent with rumination was greater for the diet with prickly pear, and the animals on the prickly pear diet remained more time idle. Comparing goats and sheep species, it was verified that the rumination efficiency, for both DM and NDF, was greater for sheep species. The animals spent more time ruminating lying than standing, but no difference was verified between the sides on which the animals chose to lie down.

On several varieties of cacti and their relations

Motivated by string topology and the arc operad, we introduce the notion of quasi-operads and consider four (quasi)-operads which are different varieties of the operad of cacti. These are cacti without local zeros (or spines) and cacti proper as well as both varieties with fixed constant size one of the constituting loops. Using the recognition principle of Fiedorowicz, we prove that spineless cacti are equivalent as operads to the little discs operad. It turns out that in terms of spineless cacti Cohen's Gerstenhaber structure and Fiedorowicz' braided operad structure are given by the same explicit chains. We also prove that spineless cacti and cacti are homotopy equivalent to their normalized versions as quasi-operads by showing that both types of cacti are semi-direct products of the quasi-operad of their normalized versions with a re-scaling operad based on R>0. Furthermore, we introduce the notion of bi-crossed products of quasi-operads and show that the cacti proper are a bi-crossed product of the operad of cacti without spines and the operad based on the monoid given by the circle group S^1. We also prove that this particular bi-crossed operad product is homotopy equivalent to the semi-direct product of the spineless cacti with the group S^1. This implies that cacti are equivalent to the framed little discs operad. These results lead to new CW models for the little discs and the framed little discs operad.

Chemical Composition and Ruminal Dry Matter and Crude Protein Degradability of Spineless Cactus

AbstractThe objective of this study was to determine ruminal degradability of the dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) of 10 varieties of spineless cactus (Opuntia spp.) grown in north‐eastern Brazil. Two ruminally fistulated steers were used in a randomized complete block design. Ash, CP, acid detergent fiber, and acid detergent lignin levels ranged from 10.4 to 13.3 %, 6.2–7.7 %, 19.8–24.8 % and 3.4–5.4 %, respectively. Relative to the other cactus varieties, Redonda had the highest (P &lt; 0.05) in situ soluble DM fraction and effective DM degradability. No differences in effective DM degradability were observed between the other cactus varieties. In situ soluble CP fraction ranged from 1.7 % of CP for the 69 IPA/UFRPE variety to 11.1 % of CP for the Gigante variety. Slowly degradable CP fraction and its rate of degradation were similar among the cactus varieties (average 90 % of CP and 9 % h−1, respectively). The cactus variety 69 IP/UFRPE had a lower (P &lt; 0.05) effective ruminal CP degradability (ECPD) than the other varieties, which had a similar ECPD (average 66 % of CP). It was concluded that differences in ruminal degradability exist between cactus varieties, with more variations observed for ruminal DM than for CP degradability.

Effects of variety on chemical composition, in situ nutrient disappearance and in vitro gas production of spineless cacti

AbstractThis study determined the chemical composition, in situ ruminal nutrient disappearance and in vitro gas production kinetics of three cactus varieties grown in northeastern Brazil. The varieties were Gigante, IPA‐20 and Miúda. Results of the chemical analysis showed no significant differences in ash, ether extract, crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) between the cactus varieties. However, acid detergent fibre was highest (P &lt; 0.05) for IPA‐20, intermediate (P &lt; 0.05) for Gigante, and lowest (P &lt; 0.05) for Miúda. Fractionation of carbohydrate and true protein based on rates of ruminal degradation indicated that the main carbohydrate component was the rapidly degradable fraction, whereas the main true protein component was the intermediately degradable fraction. No differences in carbohydrate or protein fractions were observed between the cactus varieties. Results of the in situ experiment showed no differences in ruminal dry matter (DM, average 803 g kg−1 of DM), CP (900 g kg−1 of CP) and NDF (611 g kg−1 of NDF) disappearance between the three cactus varieties after 48 h of ruminal incubation. Potential gas production at the end of 48 h of incubation was higher (P &lt; 0.05) for Gigante than for the Miúda or IPA‐20 variety. However, rate of gas production and lag time in gas production were similar for the three cactus varieties at 6.8% h−1 and 0.6 h respectively. Our results showed little or no differences in chemical composition or ruminal nutrient degradabilities between the three cactus varieties. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry