Morphology and age of the cactus pear Opuntia ficus-indica on the production of (Dactylopius coccus costa) and carminic acid content

The objective of this research was to determine the relationship between the weight, size, and age of the prickly pear cactus ( Opuntia ficus-indica ) on the amount of dry mealybug (Dactylopius coccus costa ) and its content of carminic acid (CA) under conditions greenhouse. 50 cladodes of O. ficus-indica of different ages were used, which were divided according to their age: young (4 months), mature (6 months) and old (≥ 8 months). The information collected was analyzed through the methodology of generalized linear models and the differences between the ages of the cladodes were performed using least squares means at α = 0.05. In addition, the Pearson correlation (between continuous variables) and the Hays (ω2) (between nominal variables and continuous variables) with hypothesis test at α = 0.05 were used to establish the associations between the morphology (r), classification (age) of the cladode (ω2) with the production of mealybug and the AC content. It was found that the age of the cladode affected (P 0.05) the AC content, which was 18.7 to 19.3 %. Cladode weight and thickness were negatively correlated with AC content: r = -0.19 (P 0.05) with the AC content. For a greenhouse production system of D. coccus costa , it is recommended to use cladodes from 4 months of age, although at this age a lower production of mealybug is expected; but, AC content similar to that produced in a cladode classified as mature or old.