Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research

Intensive Course for graduate Students:

Physiology, Reproduction and Uses of Cactus Pear Species

Orchard management for fruit

production
by
Paolo Inglese

- Sde Boker Campus, Israel - February 2014

 Cactus in the world
Countries Surface area
(x 1000 ha)
Brasil 600
Argentina e Chile 2.5
Mexico 65 + 3 M
USA 0.5
South Africa 1.5
Tunisia & Algeria 50
Morocco 60
Italy 3.5
Total 785 + ~ 3 M
Sicily production
Gialla
CULTIVARS Rossa
Bianca

Summer Fruits----------- 10%

Winter Fruits-------------- 90%

production period
(october)
 Italy
• Surface:
– Ha 3,500 Specialized plantation
– Ha 15,000 overall
• Production: 70,000 tons MESSINA

• Region : Sicily TRAPANI

PALER
MO

Pendici
dell’Etna
ENNA CATANIA
CALTANISSETTA

Basile e Foti 1997 Santa Margherita

Belice AGRIGENTO
SIRACUSA

San Cono RAGUSA

 MAJOR INNOVATIONS:
• Orchard lay out and management:
 orchard planting and lay-out;
 tree pruning;
 LAI measurement;
 plant nutrition and fertilization;
 water requirement and irrigation management;
 orchard floor management.

VII Cactus Pear & Cochineal ISHS Congress - Agadir 17-22 Oct. 2010-.
 Orchard planting
• Orchard design
• Orchard planting
– Row orientation
– Planting time
– Planting material
– Cutting placement
 Orchard Planting

• Soon after rains and with increasing

temperatures
• Depth of holes: 30-40 cm (2-3 cladodes/hole)
• Age of cladodes: 2-3 years
• Cladodes plant: 2/3 of whole lenght
1, 2, or 3 cladodes in a hole
Orchard design
 Planting Density
• Sicily:
4 m in the row and 6 m between the rows
416 plants ha-1 (24 ton/ha)

• Messico:
2 m in the row and 4 m between the rows
1250 plants ha-1 (20 ton/ha)

• Israel: 1.5 m in the row and 4 m between the rows

1600 plants ha-1 (18 ton/ha)
Ficodindieti intensivi in Tunisia
Pruning during second and third year from planting
 Vegetative and reproductive
behaviour of cactus pear trees.
Parameters One year old cladodes Two years old cladodes

1992 1993 1994 1995 1992 1993 1994 1995

Fertile 53±9 47±10 75±8 65±10 19±5 18±6 14±3 14±2

cladodes (n)
Vegetative 3±1 4±1 5±1 3±0.5 18+3 22±3 28±5 26±5
cladodes (n)

Fertile and 4±0.5 6±0.5 4±1 4±1 17+3 16±2 12±5 11±7
vegetative
cladodes (n2)
Fruit (n) 236±44 308±84 462±92 324±78 60±18 57±11 52±12 28±6
New cladodes 14±3 17±2 18±3 14±2 53±7 54±6 60±8 63±7
(n)
Fruit x 4.1 5.8 5.8 4.7 1.7 1.7 2.0 1.2
cladode (n)
Cladode dry weight in excess of the minimum dry weight for its surface area vs number of
fruits on that cladode.
Minimum, dry weight was determined for 35 cladodes harvested on Oct. 2006. The vertical line indicates the
minimum excess dry weight of 50 g (Garcia de Cortazar and Nobel, 1992).
Relative frequence of O. ficus-indica cladodes in
relation to their fertility.
14

12

10
Freq uency (%)

0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Number of fruit per cladode
Relative cladode contribution to plant yield in relation
to its fertility
14

12
P e rc e n ta g e of to ta l p la n t y ie ld

10

0
2 4 6 8 10 1 2 14 16 18 20 22 24
Number of fruit per c ladode
Number of fertile cladodes needed to get a fruit crop
of 20 t ha-1, in relation to the number of fruit per
cladode.
45

N u m b er o f f e r ti l e c l a d o d es ( 1 0 h a )
-1
40

35
3

30

25

20

15

10
4 6 8 10 12
N u m b er of f r u i ts p er c l a d od e
Number of fertile cladodes needed to get a crop yield
of 20 t ha-1, given 6 fruits (120 g) per cladode, in
relation to orchard density.

120
110
N umber of fer til e cladodes per plant
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
Number of plants per hectare
Spring Flush Removal (Scozzolatura)

Spring flush removal of

flowers and new cladodes:
- May-June (Northern
hemisphere)
- October (Southern hemisphere)
 Orchard management

 Bloom (early june)

 I Scozzolatura (full bloom)
 I Reflowering (early july)
 II Scozzolatura (full bloom)
 Fertilization (250 g N/tree)
 Irrigation (250-300 l/tree)
 II Reflowering (end of august)
 Coverage (polyethylene tunnel)>November-December
 Harvest (January-February)
 Orchard management for off-season crop
Italy Israel

Scozzolatura
N fertilization (80-120 kg ha-1)
(May-June)
&
Irrigation
(after summer crop)
Spring flush removal of
flowers and new cladodes

Production (20-30% s.c.)

Production (1:1) (few months after summer crop)
(October) two prod./year
one prod./year
Nerd et al. 1993
Barbera & Inglese 1993
Scozzolatura
Phenology of flowering in 1st, 2nd and 3rd flower buds
on Cactus pear cv. Gialla.

I Flush

II Flush

III Flush

5 10 15 20 25 30 5 10 15 20 25 30 5 10 15 20 25 30

June July August

Fruit maturity chart on Cactus Pear cv. Gialla

10 15 20 25 30 5 10 15 20 25 30 5 10 15 20 25 30 5 10 15 20 25 30 5 10 15 20 25 30 5 10 15 20 25 30 5 10 15 20 25 30

August September October November December January February

Relationship between cladode natural fertility
and its reflowering aptitude O. ficus-indica
1,2

1,0
Reflowering Index

0,8

0,6

0,4

0,2

0,0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Number of flowers per cladode
Reflowering index and lenght of the fruit development period (FDP)
resulting from the 1° flush removal time

Reflowering index FDP

(2nd vs 1st flush bloom ratio) (days)

• Pre-bloom 1.0 • Pre-bloom 90

• Full bloom 0.80 • Full bloom 97

• Post bloom 0.60 • Post bloom 106

Blooming date and fruit ripening of O. ficus-indica
cv. Gialla, summer production and scozzolati

Blooming time Ripening time Fruit growth period

Summer prod. 01/06-15/06 10/08 - 25/08 70 – 80 days

Scozzolati 07/07 - 20/07 01/10 – 15/11 90 - 120

 Cumulative growth curve for fruits of O. ficus-indica cv. Gialla
coming from the 2nd- and 3rd- flush of bloom.
Data are means ± SE.

55

50

45
dt (mm)

40 Out of season
scozzolati

35

30

25
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

Days after bloom

 Fruit quality parameters at harvest on Cactus Pear cv.
Gialla (Media ± ES).
Fruits Weight Pulp TSS pH Malic Ac. Seed/pulp Fertile
seeds
g % °Brix % n°/g
%

Scozzolati 163.19 ± 2.30 61.1 ± 0.85 13.26 ± 0.05 6.26 ± 0.03 0.3 ± 0.01 3.9 ± 0.2 55 ± 1.3

Out of
170.4 ± 7.11 62.9 ± 0.92 12.1 ± 0.07 6.11 ± 0.01 0.2 ± 0.01 4.1 ± 0.1 50 ± 1.8
season
 Out of season fruits of Cactus pear (February) cv.
Gialla in Sicily

cactus pear fertile cladodes can still produce flower and vegetative buds
even after a double removal of the spring flush and of the second
induced one
Fruit quality parameters at harvest on Cactus
Pear cv. Gialla (Mean±SE).

Weight Pulp TSS

(g) (%) (°Brix)

Summer crop 120.5 ± 8.5 55.1 ± 3.0 12.15 ± 0.07

Scozzolati 163.19 ± 2.30 61.1 ± 0.85 13.26 ± 0.05

Late cropping (double scozzolatura) of O. ficus-indica trees grown in
Tunnel

It is essential to have adequate environmental conditions during winter

to get normal fruit ripening and marketable quality
 Fertilization
• Pre-planting:
- 3- 5 kg of cow manure tree-1
- 300 - 400 kg ha-1 of P2O5
- 300 - 500 kg ha-1 of K2O

In South Africa is considered as optimum in the soil the

availability of 500-600 mg kg-1 of calcium, 150 di potassium,
80-100 di magnesium e 12-15 di phosphorus (Wessels, 1988)
 Fertilization
• From November to January
- phosphorus: 30 kg ha-1
- potassium: 120 kg ha-1
- nitrogen: 60 kg ha-1
Nitrate content (mean ± SE) in cladode tissues
of different age, at bloom and fruit harvest.

N (% dm)
P ortion /date 27/06 30/10

Apical 0.9 ± 0.4 0.6 ± 0.1

Medial 2.4 ± 0.4 1.9 ± 0.2

Basal 2.9 ± 0.3 1.7 ± 0.1

 Irrigation

• Localized irrigation
• 3-5 times (relating to the soil and the
environmental conditions)
• About 1.000 m3/hectares
Seasonal fruit growth in cladodes bearing
15 fruits.
5

wet
dry
4
Diameter (cm)

irrigation
3

1
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Days from bloom
Seasonal fruit growth in cladodes
bearing 6 fruits.

wet
dry
4
Diameter (cm)

irrigation
3

1
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Days after bloom
The experiment was carried out
over an 2.5 ha cactus pear, located
STUDY CASE
in Western Sicily.
The cactus pear architecture
consisted of mature plants, 4.0 m
tall, with a mean LAI of 3 m2 m-2 and
PAR interception of 70% within
rows.

There was 5 meter of distances

between plants within rows and 6 m
between rows.
The irrigation system included on-line
labyrinth sprayers, in a number of 4 per
plant, with discharge rate of 40 l/h at a
pressure of 150 kPa.
 1.5
2012 2013

1.0
Kc

0.5

0.0
1-apr 21-mag 10-lug 29-ago 18-ott 7-dic 26-gen 17-mar 6-mag 25-giu 14-ago 3-ott 22-nov

June July August September

Kc 0,53 0,65 0,63 0,6

Seasonal irrigation volume

(May- September),
~ 3.000 m3 ha-1
 Conclusion

From June 4 to September 30, 2009:

•ETc was 290,3 mm.
•Evaporation (E) was 75,5 mm.
•Plnat water loss was 214,8 mm

: From June 4 to September 30, 2010

•ETc was 285,6 mm.
•Evaporation (E) was 74,3 mm.
•Plant water loss was 211,2 mm

• Seasonal Kc was 0,58

 Mean values:
ET0=4.7 mm/d Clay-loam soil, with 40% of
ETc=2.1 mm/d water at field capacity
Kc=0.47
Irrigation rate
corresponding to 2.3 mm/d

24.0 1.20

20.0 1.00

16.0 0.80
mm d-1

12.0 0.60

Kc
8.0 0.40

4.0 0.20

0.0 0.00
5/30 6/24 7/19 8/13 9/7 10/2 10/2

Irrigation rates ETc ET0 Kc

 MAJOR RELEVANT QUESTIONS:
 How to increase fruit yield potential?
• plant fertility vs Cladode fertility
• tree spacing vs plant architecture
 How to reduce production costs?
• mechanization vs plant breeding
 How to increase fruit quality and value?
• seasonal offer
• fruit shape and color
• seed number
• fruit organolpetic and nutraceutical value