Traditional agricultural and animal production in the southeast of Mexico city as a resource for sustainable agriculture. 4. The presence and experimental utilisation of the 'nopal' vegetable (Opuntia ficus-indica) as an important sustainable crop of terraced areas

摘要

Asurveywasundertakeninordertounderstandthesocial,technological,economicandpotentialuseofthequot;nopalquot;vegetable(Oputiaficus-indica)intheregionofXochimilco.Theresultsshowedthatnopalisgrowneitherwithintheproducer'shomegardenoronlandnearthetown.Thereisnodefinedseasonofplantinganewcrop,thoughnopalproductioniscloselyassociatedwithseasonalpatterns.Theratiosofusingorganictoinorganicfertilizerswere3:7,6:1and6:0onsmall,mediumandlargeplotsrespectively.Insectsweretheonlyproblemaffectingyield.Experimentalmicro-silagesweresetupusingnopaltoassessthenutritionalcontentasfoodforruminants.Theadditionofmolassesandmaizestovertothemicro-silagesofnopalreducedcrudeproteincontentandincreasedDM.Theimportanceofnopalvegetableproductionsystemsisdiscussedintermsofasuitablecropasasustainablemodelofproductionintheregion.