Cladodes, properly prepared for planting with 15-day curing, were planted in October 2009 at 2 x 0.2 m spacing, and each plant was considered as one basic experimental unit (BEU).
cladodes were significantly more attractive to female parasitoids (Varone et al.
Varieties used in the study: the spineless varieties 'Aissa' (a) and 'Moussa' (b) and the thorny one 'Achefri' (c): pictures were taken during the ripening phase in July 2011 and show differences in spines and
cladode colour (green for the spineless cultivars and glaucous for the thorny cultivar).
The traits included outstanding phenotypes like fruit characteristics, quality and
cladode morphology [19].
When protease activities and a crude protein extract from Opuntia
cladode were challenged, trypsin and chymotrypsin-like activities were most sensitive, while elastase-like activity was only slightly inhibited and no inhibition was detected toward cysteine proteases, but using zymography an increase in proteolysis was observed in the latter case.
Size at first reproduction occurs in plants having more than 5
cladodes and fruit production varies among years from 30 fruits/plant to less than one (Mandujano et al., 2007).
Nutritional and medicinal use of cactus pear (Opuntia spp.)
cladodes and fruits.
This species dominates the nopal ecosystem through its long life span and ability to reproduce vegetatively by rooting of
cladodes (Mandujano et al., 1998).
This predictability also extends to other desert species such as Opuntia where the fresh weights of
cladodes are correlated with
cladode width ([r.sup.2]=0.93) although this relationship varies annually (Han & Felker 1997).
cactorum on a
cladode inside a container (35 x 28 x 20 cm) where we added from 6 to 10 Apanteles females, and a similar number of males, so they could mate and the females oviposit.