Opuntia-based Ruminant Feeding Systems in Mexico

Abstract

Opuntia cactus (prickly pear or nopal) is a group comprising plants belonging to different species
of the genera Opuntia and Nopalea, both of the Cactaceae family. Its origin is the American
Continent and can be found from Canada (lat. 59°N) to Argentina (lat. 52°S), and from sea level to
an altitude as high as 5100 m in Peru (Bravo and Sheinvar, 1995).