Edible cactus: A promising supplementary fodder crop for saline arid regions

Abstract

India is blessed with lavished agricultural systems, its large latitudinal sprawl and varied climate have resulted in diverse farming systems. The leading components of dominant farming systems (86%) of the country are crops and dairy animals. Despite sharing 4.11% of total gross value added and 25.6% of total agriculture gross value added, now-a-days the livestock sector is seeking shortage of feed and fodder and low productivity. The area under fodder crops in India is also stagnated from the last 2–3 decades. Further, the fertile land is generally allocated to the food
crops and fodder crops are grown on marginal lands. Hence, there is urgent need to enhance the production of quality fodder from existing available land. At the same time, it is essential to explore new alternative fodder crops to supplement the existing fodder production system. Edible cactus is one of the promising nutrient rich fodder crop that can produce very high biomass with minimum input requirement.