#Cactus pear trial#

Cactus pear is already used in many semi-arid areas around the world for food and forage due to its low-water needs compared with more traditional crops. The crop can also be used for human consumption and livestock feed. We can start growing cactus pear crops in abandoned areas that are marginal and may not be suitable for other crops, thereby expanding the area being used for bioenergy production.' 'There is enormous potential for planting cactus trees for carbon sequestration. 'Approximately 42% of land area around the world is classified as semi-arid or arid,' Cushman said. When it's not being harvested for biofuel, then it works as a land-based carbon sink, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in a sustainable manner. 'This study showed that cactus pear productivity is on par with these important bioenergy crops, but use a fraction of the water and have a higher heat tolerance, which makes them a much more climate-resilient crop.'Ĭactus pear works well as a bioenergy crop because it is a versatile perennial crop. 'Maize and sugar cane are the major bioenergy crops right now, but use three to six times more water than cactus pear,' Cushman said. Co-authors included Carol Bishop, with the College's Extension unit, postdoctoral research scholar Dhurba Neupane, and graduate students Nicholas Alexander Niechayev and Jesse Mayer. Results of the study, which took place at the Experiment Station's Southern Nevada Field Lab in Logandale, Nevada, showed that Opuntia ficus-indica had the highest fruit production while using up to 80% less water than some traditional crops. as a scalable bioenergy feedstock to replace fossil fuel.

#Cactus pear trial#

Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, was the first long-term field trial of Opuntia species in the U.S. The study, funded by the Experiment Station and the U.S.

'Ultimately, we're going to see more and more of these drought issues affecting crops such as corn and soybeans in the future.'Īs part of the College's Experiment Station unit, Cushman and his team recently published the results of a five-year study on the use of spineless cactus pear as a high-temperature, low-water commercial crop. 'Dry areas are going to get dryer because of climate change,' Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Professor John Cushman, with the University's College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources, said. Many crops, such as rice, corn and soybeans, have an upper temperature limit, and other traditional crops, such as alfalfa, require more water than what might be available in the future. Global climate change models predict that long-term drought events will increase in duration and intensity, resulting in both higher temperatures and lower levels of available water.