Resumen:
In production systems of prickly pear fruit
and prickly pear cactus, significant amounts of pruned
material, which could be used as an ingredient in animal
feeding, is generated. The aim of this study was to
measure the nutrient content, fermentation kinetics and
in vitro digestibility of eleven cultivars of cladodes of
prickly pear cactus. The fermentation was measured
indirectly using the gas production technique, where
500 mg of DM substrate (prickly pear cactus cultivars)
were placed in amber glass flasks of 125 mL with
90 mL of ruminal inoculum under a continuous flow of
CO2. Flaskswere hermeticallywrapped upwith a rubber
stopper and ametal ring, and were placed in a water bath
at 39 C. The fermentation gas pressure was measured
using a monometer at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 38,
50 and 72 h incubation. Results show that the chemical
composition ranged between (g kg-1 DM): 64 and
160 g kg-1 dry matter (DM), 137–293 g kg-1 DM
ash, 52–101 g kg-1 DM crude protein, 3–22 g kg-1
DM ether extract, 251–393 neutral detergent fiber and
132–192 acid detergent fiber. The gas volume was
different (p\0.05) among cultivars, with the Red
Vigor cultivar having the largest volume at 378 mL g-1
DM.The highest volumeof gas was produced during the
first 24 h in on average 67 % of the total produced. The
in vitroDMdigestibility displayed values of up to 82 %
in the Roja Pelota cultivar. It can be concluded that the
cladodes of prickly pear cactus from different cultivars
can be used in animal feed for its good rumen
fermentation characteristics