Study of phenotypic variability of prickly pear fruit of an ex-situ collection of local accessions of in the Tafilalet oasis context – Morocco

Abstract

Prickly pear especially Opuntia ficus-indica species could be an economically important alternative crop in irrigated oasis zones, as it tolerates very well extreme droughts. In order to select the most promising fruits for the Tafilalet oasis context, 36 accessions of the prickly pear (28 accessions of Opuntia ficus-indica f. ficus-indica and 8 accessions of Opuntia ficus-indica f. amyclaea) from different regions of Morocco and cultivated in Tafilalet region were evaluated. Seventeen fruit morphological traits and four physical and physicochemical criteria of pulp including firmness, colour, pH, and degree Brix were analysed. All the observed criteria recorded a significant variation within and between the forms of cacti. As an example, the weight of the fruit varies significantly between 73.9 g and 132.8 g. Likewise, the degree Brix varies from 9.3 ° to 13.6 ° Bx. The form of the prickly pear (ficus-indica and amyclaea) and the geographical origin affected the characteristics of the fruit. Compared to other study on the same accessions in Agadir region revealed significant differences regarding fruit weight, pH and degree Brix in favour of Agadir environment. Five groups were proposed using agglomerative hierarchical clustering. Seven accessions were thus selected for the production of the fruit for Tafilalet oasis context.

Keywords

• opuntia spp.
• fruit
• accessions
• qualité
• maroc
• système oasien