Spineless cactus in the Arabian Peninsula: adaptive behaviors and production performances

cg.contacta.belgacem@cgiar.orgen_US
cg.contributor.centerInternational Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDAen_US
cg.contributor.centerFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - FAOen_US
cg.contributor.centerMinistry of Climate Change and Environment (Ministry of Environment and Water) - MoCC&E (MoEW)en_US
cg.contributor.centerMinistry of Municipality and Environment - MoMEen_US
cg.contributor.centerInternational Society for Horticultural Science - ISHSen_US
cg.contributor.centerMinistry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Sultanate of Oman - MAFen_US
cg.contributor.centerUniversity of Chileen_US
cg.contributor.centerThe Range and Animal Development Research Center - SARADen_US
cg.contributor.centerFAO-ICARDA CactusNeten_US
cg.contributor.crpCGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems - DSen_US
cg.contributor.crpCGIAR Research Program on Livestock Agri-Food Systems - Livestocken_US
cg.contributor.funderArab Fund for Economic and Social Development - AFESDen_US
cg.contributor.funderInternational Fund for Agricultural Development - IFADen_US
cg.contributor.projectImproving food security and sustainable natural resources management through enhancing integrated agricultural production systems in the Arabian Peninsulaen_US
cg.contributor.project-lead-instituteInternational Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDAen_US
cg.coverage.countryOMen_US
cg.coverage.countryQAen_US
cg.coverage.countrySAen_US
cg.coverage.countryAEen_US
cg.coverage.countryYEen_US
cg.coverage.regionWestern Asiaen_US
cg.creator.idOuled Belgacem, Azaiez: 0000-0002-5946-7540en_US
cg.creator.idLouhaichi, Mounir: 0000-0002-4543-7631en_US
cg.subject.agrovocwater stressen_US
cg.subject.agrovocspineless cactusen_US
cg.subject.agrovocCactusen_US
dc.contributorAl-Farsi, Safaa Mohammeden_US
dc.contributorAl Wawi, Hayelen_US
dc.contributorShaif Al-Yafei, Hadi Abdullahen_US
dc.contributorAl-Sharari, M.en_US
dc.contributorAl-Hamoudi, Ahmed Mohameden_US
dc.contributorLouhaichi, Mouniren_US
dc.creatorOuled Belgacem, Azaiezen_US
dc.date.accessioned2019-01-15T22:34:16Z
dc.date.available2019-01-15T22:34:16Z
dc.description.abstractLimited water resources are the main challenge facing agricultural developments in dry areas. Thus improving the crops water use efficiency (WUE) is considered the greatest one. In an attempt to alleviate feed shortages and producing less water consuming forages, in 2015, 38 spineless cactus accessions (Opuntia ficus-indica var. inermis) well-known for their high drought tolerance were introduced to Oman. This collection was serving as nursery to further introduce cactus to neighboring countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Yemen. The introduced accessions were subjected to the different comparison studies on their adaptability to the local environment in order to select the most suitable ones. In each country, cladodes and fruit production parameters were evaluated and the response of the accessions to water stress (UAE), salinity (Oman) and frost (northern region of Saudi Arabia). In Oman, studies revealed significant differences among the accessions with regard to regeneration of pads. One accession from Algeria (Opuntia ficus-indica var. lengissima) was identified as superior, having produced 19 pads during May-September as compared to 5 - 17 pads for the other accessions. In Qatar, results showed that fruit production varied significantly between accessions both in shape and in weight. It ranges from 17 to 7 with an average of 11 Kg per plant. In Saudi Arabia, results showed that there was no significant difference of the effect of two irrigation levels (2500 and 5000m3 ha-1 year-1) on the annual production of pads which varied from 5 to 8 per year. Similar results were obtained in UAE, where no significant differences between three irrigation levels (50, 75 and 100% of the crop water requirement). On the other hand, it seems that the tolerance to salinity is not as much as for water stress, experiments conducted in Oman have showed that all accessions have suffered from rise in soil salinity as indicated by the yellowing of the mother pad and low counts of new pads. Even though the accessions presented different performances, all the results showed that spineless cactus has great potential to perform well under the harsh environmental conditions of the Arabian Peninsula.en_US
dc.formatPDFen_US
dc.identifierhttps://mel.cgiar.org/reporting/downloadmelspace/hash/e93bd596c556981ce90316a0662ccb76/v/2f75c6cf9793152c6b6ee91b8595b5b5en_US
dc.identifier.citationAzaiez Ouled Belgacem, Safaa Mohammed Al-Farsi, Hayel Al Wawi, Hadi Abdullah Shaif Al-Yafei, M. Al-Sharari, Ahmed Mohamed Al-Hamoudi, Mounir Louhaichi. (23/3/2017). Spineless cactus in the Arabian Peninsula: adaptive behaviors and production performances. Coquimbo, Chile: Nicolas Franck (Curator), Carmen Saenz.en_US
dc.identifier.statusOpen accessen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/9182
dc.languageenen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Chileen_US
dc.rightsCC-BY-NC-4.0en_US
dc.subjectarabian peninsulaen_US
dc.titleSpineless cactus in the Arabian Peninsula: adaptive behaviors and production performancesen_US
dc.typeConference Paperen_US
dcterms.available2017-03-23en_US
mel.project.openhttp://www.icarda.org/arabian-peninsula-regional-programen_US

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