Page 1 of 1
Opuntia as fodder- a worldwide study
Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 3:01 am
by mjazz
This a great web site:
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y2808E/y2 ... m#Contents
It has sections on using the prickly pear as forage in Brazil, Mexico, the US, etc. As you can tell by the table of contents, it's a comprehensive view of the subject that covers quite a bit of territory.
Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:44 am
by daiv
Wow, that is detailed for sure. I heard of a guy in Texas that supposedly worked really hard breeding a spine/glochid free Opuntia and tried to make a go of it some 50-60 years ago, but it was just too different and it never caught on. Don't know if that is true or not...
Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:23 pm
by mjazz
Phantasia Cactus Gardens in Twin Falls, Idaho, has a spineless variety available in their 2007 price catalog. It's called O. fraglis var denudata.
Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:35 pm
by TimN
The book Cacti: Biology and Uses has a couple of chapters devoted to wild and domesticated use of platyopuntias as feed/forage.
Interesting stuff!
Tim
Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:05 am
by hegar
I do have a huge, large-padded Opuntia sp. - most likely a hybrid - that is spineless and has large, beautiful flowers too. I had to transplant it, because it tended to fall over and be in the way because of the enormous top weight.
Harald