Nutritive and Chemical Composition and In Vitro Digestibility of Cladodes of the Opuntia Species

Gebremedhin Welu Teklu (), Kiros-Meles Ayimut, Fetien Abay Abera, Yemane G. Egziabher and Ibrahim Fitiwi
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Gebremedhin Welu Teklu: Department of Plant Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Adigrat University, Adigrat P.O. Box 50, Ethiopia
Kiros-Meles Ayimut: Department of Dryland Crop and Horticultural Sciences, College of Dryland Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mekelle University, Mekelle P.O. Box 231, Ethiopia
Fetien Abay Abera: Department of Dryland Crop and Horticultural Sciences, College of Dryland Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mekelle University, Mekelle P.O. Box 231, Ethiopia
Yemane G. Egziabher: Department of Dryland Crop and Horticultural Sciences, College of Dryland Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mekelle University, Mekelle P.O. Box 231, Ethiopia
Ibrahim Fitiwi: Department of Dryland Crop and Horticultural Sciences, College of Dryland Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mekelle University, Mekelle P.O. Box 231, Ethiopia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: Sixteen cultivars (three resistant species and thirteen susceptible cultivars to cochineal insects) were included in the experiment to evaluate their nutritional and chemical compositions and to determine the in vitro digestibility of cladodes of the Opuntia species. Cultivars showed highly significant ( p < 0.001) differences in their chemical composition. The cultivars’ content of ash, crude protein (CP), dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD), acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and Cell (cellulose) varied, with ranges of 8.18–22.75%, 3.19–10.40%, 86.40–91.88%, 77.45–91.82%, 68.25–87.3%, 55.81–78.95%, 14.88–26.15%, 29.66–67.05% and 10.99–19.92%, respectively. The ash content showed a significant highly negative correlation with OM (r = −1.00; p < 0.001), IVDMD (r = −0.603; p < 0.001) and DOMD (r = −0.904; p < 0.001), respectively. The Garao, Aloqa and O. robusta var. X11 cultivars showed the highest similarities, as they are found close to the first branch of the dendrogram. In total, 90% of the variation among the nutritional traits was attributed to the first four PCs, with 55.97% to the first two principal components (PCs). The nutritional composition of the resistant species was greater than or equal to the susceptible ones.

Keywords: correlation; dendrogram: multivariate analysis; principal component analysis; prickly pear (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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