POTENTIAL GLOBAL ADAPTIVITY OF SPINELLES, PROGENY OF OPUNTIA FICUS-INDICA 1281 X O. LINDHEIMERII 1250 AS FORAGE CULTIVARS ADAPTED TO USDA COLD HARDINESS ZONES 7 AND 8

Opuntia has a long tradition of use for forage in Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Tunisia and arid regions of the US. The vast majority of these cacti are spineless as spiny forage types are more difficult to work with.
Some spiny Opuntias are very cold tolerant existing as far as 56 N in Alberta, Canada.
In contrast traditional spineless Opuntia ficus-indica species, normally used for fruits, are limited in extension to USDA cold hardiness zones 9 and 10 due to lack of cold hardiness.
Discovery of a spineless cold hardy O. ellisiana adapted to USDA cold hardiness zone 7 has the potential to greatly expand the range for livestock forage.
Additionally new crosses between spineless O ficus-indica and the cold hardy, but spiny Texas native O. lindheimerii have produced spineless progeny that are currently being evaluated for forage characteristics in USDA cold hardiness zone 7 and 8 in Argentina.
USDA computer models have been used to predict where spineless Opuntia types could be used in semi-arid areas world wide in USDA cold hardiness zones 7 and 8.

VI International Congress on Cactus Pear and Cochineal

P. Felker , R.A. Bunch, D.M. Borchert, J.C. Guevara

freeze tolerance, fodder, cactus, CAM, wildlife

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.811.45