Opuntia and Other Cacti: Applications and Biotechnological Insights

Abstract

The cactus family is unusual among tropical plants. Cacti, known for their minimum water requirement, have been grown extensively in arid lands, for food, feeds and medicinal and therapeutic uses.Several food products have cacti as a main ingredient. Cacti biochemical analysis substantiate the high nutritive value of this plant family. Tissue cultures, including micropropagation, callus, and cell suspension cultures have been established for numerous cacti species. Genetic engineering has opened opportunities for gene isolation and integration of genes from other sources for cacti improvement. Cacti might be a store house of stress tolerant genes for other crops. Since cacti can be cultivated easily with minimum agriculture inputs, they hold great potential for cultivation and farming on degraded lands and for at least partial remediation of degraded lands. The present review outlines some of the older and more recent research on the properties and applications for Opuntia and other cacti especially as they might apply towards agricultural sustainability.

Tissue culture of ornamental cacti

“…Micropropagation can be a useful tool for solving or overcoming these problems because sexual propagation is replaced by vegetative propagation cycles, which usually maintain the genetic fidelity of the starting material (cloning) and shorten the propagation period (usually from several months to a few weeks) (Malda et al, 1999b). In general, artificial growth media provide good conditions for either in vitro seed germination of almost all cactus species or for their micropropagation under aseptic conditions and controlled temperature, light and nutrition regimes (Shedbalkar and Adki, 2010). In some cases, full-strength MS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) medium can inhibit or delay seed germination of cactus species (Lema-Rumińska and Kulus, 2012;Lema-Rumińska and Kulus, 2014).…”

Medicinal utilization of exotic plants by Bapedi traditional healers to treat human ailments in Limpopo province, South Africa

“…To the best of our knowledge, there is no published record on the traditional use of Opuntia ficus-indica to treat gonorrhoea and hypertension in South Africa. However, compound with resemblance to activities of sarsaparilla vine (Smilax officinalis), which might be useful in the treatment of gonorrhoea, has been isolated from Opuntia ficus-indica (Shedbalkar et al, 2010). Furthermore, Chauhan et al (2010) also demonstrated various activities of this species including antihypertensive activities.…”

Opuntia Fruits as a Source of Inexpensive Functional Food

“…Opuntia crop could be established in drought regions of many countries, including Africa and India (Ennouri et al 2006). Germplasm conservation, genetic engineering and tissue culture are key strategies in successful implementation of this vision (Shedbalkar et al 2010;Zoghlami et al (2012). Axillary-branching micropropagation technique for high degree of clonal fidelity and conservation of interesting genetic resources was recommended.…”