A Comparative Analysis of Morphological Characteristics between Endangered Local Prickly Pear and the Newly Introduced Dactylopius opuntiae-Resistant Species in Eastern Morocco

Table 1

Quantitative and qualitative pomological characters of fruit and cladode based on the UPOV test guidelines for cactus pear and xoconostle (UPOV, 2004).

Plant part	Quantitative descriptor	Qualitative descriptor	N
Cladode	Length (cm)	Waxiness	1
	Width (cm)	Shape	2
	Length-to-width ratio	Glochid density	3
	Thickness base (cm)	Undulation of marginal part	4
	Thickness tip (cm)	Pubescence of surface	5
	Number of areoles per cladode	Spine curvature	6
	Number of areoles in the center row	Position widest part	7
	Largest distance between areoles (cm)	Spine twisting	8
	Number of spines per areole in center	Color of glochid	9
	Number of spines in board	Color of areole	10
	Length of the longest spine (cm)	Shape base part	11
	Weight of cladode (g)	Presence of spine	12
		Shape apical part	13
		Spain surface	14
		Spain main color	15
		Spine attitude	16
Fruit	Length (cm)	Length of stalk	17
	Width (cm)	Shape in longitudinal section	18
	Ratio weight of peel per fruit	Main color of surface	19
	Ratio weight of pulp per fruit	Color of flesh	20
	Peel thickness center (cm)	Diameter of receptacle scar	21
	Seeds weight per fruit	Firmness of flesh	22
	Fruit weight (g)	Evenness of color	23
	Peel weight (g)	Glochid color	24
	Pulp weight (g)	Seed size	25
	Ratio of seeds/fruit	Depression of receptacle scar	26
	Length-to-width ratio
	Numbers of normal seeds
	Numbers of abortive seeds