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Opuntia and Other Cacti: Applications and Biotechnological Insights

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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.

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Abbreviations

ACC:

1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate

BA:

benzyladenine

DLG:

daily live-weight gain

2,4-D:

2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid

DMI:

dry-matter intake

FAP:

6-furfurylaminopurine

Kin:

kinetin

LDL:

low density lipoprotein

LWG:

total live-weight gain

MS:

Murashige and Skoog

NAA:

1-naphtalenacetic acid

SF:

stem flour

WF:

wheat flour

GA3 :

Gibberelic acid

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Acknowledgements

UUS is thankful to Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi for providing a financial assistance in the form of Senior Research Fellowship (SRF). VSA is thankful to Shivaji University, Kolhapur for Departmental Research Fellowship (DRF). VAB wishes to thank CSIR, New Delhi for Emeritus Scientist Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, 416 004, India

    Utkarsha U. Shedbalkar & Jyoti P. Jadhav

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Shivaji University, Vidyanagar, Kolhapur, 416 004, India

    Vinayak S. Adki, Jyoti P. Jadhav & Vishwas A. Bapat

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  1. Utkarsha U. Shedbalkar
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  2. Vinayak S. Adki
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  3. Jyoti P. Jadhav
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  4. Vishwas A. Bapat
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Correspondence to Vishwas A. Bapat.

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Communicated by: Paul Moore

Utkarsha U. Shedbalkar and Vinayak S. Adki have equal contributions.

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Shedbalkar, U.U., Adki, V.S., Jadhav, J.P. et al. Opuntia and Other Cacti: Applications and Biotechnological Insights. Tropical Plant Biol. 3, 136–150 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12042-010-9055-0

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