Hort. Sci. (Prague), 2018, 45(2):92-100 | DOI: 10.17221/48/2017-HORTSCI

Fruit production from Opuntia ficus-indica ecotypes in comparison to commercial Italian clonesOriginal Paper

Carlos Manuel Gaspar Reis*,1,2,3, Luiz Carlos Gazarini4, Maria Margarida Ribeiro1,2,5
1 Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco, Escola Superior Agrária, Castelo Branco, Portugal
2 Centro de Biotecnologia de Plantas da Beira Interior, Escola Superior Agrária de Castelo Branco, Castelo Branco, Portugal
3 Centro de Recursos Naturais, Ambiente e Sociedade (CERNAS-IPCB), Coimbra, Portugal
4 Universidade de Évora, Departamento de Biologia, Évora, Portugal
5 Centro de Estudos Florestais (CEF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

Fruit production, as an elementary chemical characteristic of the fruit, was evaluated in 16 Opuntia ficus-indica Portuguese ecotypes cultivated in a marginal soil without tillage, in the second and third years after plantation. The O. ficus-indica ecotypes were compared with the Italian cultivars 'Bianca' and 'Gialla'. Significant differences were found among the O. ficus-indica ecotypes in biomass-related parameters and fruit yield, and different groups were established. Two spineless ecotypes (OFI-12 and OFI-13) had highest biomass production, with 9.9 Mg/ha dry matter on average. This was not significantly different from the 'Gialla' cultivar, which averaged 11.9 Mg/ha, for a density of 2,667 plants/ha,in the third year after plantation. Among Portuguese ecotypes, the fruit yields ranged from 2.4 to 10.1 Mg/ha fresh weight. The cultivars 'Gialla' and 'Bianca' had the highest fruit yield (13.8 and 13.6 Mg/ha fresh weight, respectively). The 'Gialla' cultivar and the group of ecotypes with orange pulp produced fruits of larger size and weight compared to the 'Bianca' cultivar and the group of ecotypes with white pulp.

Keywords: biomass; fruit yield; fruit size; prickly pear

Published: June 30, 2018  Show citation

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Reis CMG, Gazarini LC, Ribeiro MM. Fruit production from Opuntia ficus-indica ecotypes in comparison to commercial Italian clones. Hort. Sci. (Prague). 2018;45(2):92-100. doi: 10.17221/48/2017-HORTSCI.
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