The reflowering of prickly pear Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Miller: influence of removal time and cladode load on yield and fruit ripening

In prickly pear-Opuntia-ficus indica (L.) Miller the complete removal of the spring flush (flowers and cladodes) promotes a further flowering. The reflowering behaviour of the two main cultivars of the Italian industry was investigated in Sicily. 'Gialla' had a greater aptitude for reflowering: than 'Rossa' that also showed an alternate bearing habit. Spring flush removal promoted a further flowering depending on the stage of the flowers at the time of treatment. The prebloom treatment resulted in the highest reflowering rate whilst removing the spring flush after petal shedding reduced reflowering by 50%. The second flush load of each cladode was related to that of the first by a quadratic regression. Treatments affected the time span of reflowering, fruit development and ripening. Early fruits (preblooming) had the shortest fruit development period and reached harvest maturity 40 days earlier than the late ones (postblooming). Fruit size and weight were greater the later the fruits ripened. Late fruits showed the lowest seed/core ratio.