Morphological Characterization of Opuntia Accessions from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) Using UPOV Descriptors

Twenty Opuntia accessions from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) were classified according to 52 quantitative and qualitative descriptors, including the traits of the cladodes, flowers, fruits, and spines, as described by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) gu...

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Published inHorticulturae Vol. 10; no. 7; p. 662
Main Authors Díaz-Delgado, Goretti L., Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Elena M., Ríos, Domingo, Cano, María Pilar, Lobo, María Gloria
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.07.2024
Subjects
Cactus
cactus pear
cladodes
Classification
Cluster analysis
Clustering
Clusters
Discriminant analysis
Environmental aspects
flower
Flowers & plants
fruit
Fruits
Identification and classification
Islands
Morphology
multivariate analysis
Opuntia
Oranges
Pears
Physical characteristics
Physiological aspects
Plants (botany)
Prickly pears
Qualitative analysis
spines
Statistical analysis
Spain
Mexico
Canary Islands
Tenerife
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Summary:Twenty Opuntia accessions from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) were classified according to 52 quantitative and qualitative descriptors, including the traits of the cladodes, flowers, fruits, and spines, as described by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) guidelines. A database composed of 20 accessions and 52 traits was used to perform a cluster analysis based on the Euclidian distance and Ward’s method and a canonical discriminant analysis. In terms of the analyzed characteristics, cactus pears with orange flesh showed less variability than cactus pears with white or purple flesh. Good classifications according to fruit flesh color were obtained using discriminant analysis. As a result of the cluster analysis, Opuntia plant accessions with white, orange, or purple-fleshed fruits were classified into four homogeneous groups according to the cubic clustering criteria. This study proves that it was possible to make a preliminary classification of Opuntia varieties from the Canary Islands based on a few main morphological characteristics. To improve the classification, a molecular analysis of the different Opuntia plants is necessary.
ISSN:2311-7524
2311-7524
DOI:10.3390/horticulturae10070662