Turksvye – Prickley pears

Prickley pears are easy growers and there are different ones.  Prickly pear cactus — or also known as nopal, opuntia and other names — is promoted for treating diabetes, and possible other diseases, such as high cholesterol, obesity and hangovers. It’s also touted for its antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties.       Prickly pear cactus contains fiber and pectin, which can lower blood glucose by decreasing the absorption of sugar in the  stomach and intestine. Some researchers think that it might also decrease cholesterol levels, and kill viruses in the body.

 

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Turksvye is maklike plante om te kweek of groei –  daar is verskillende soorte.   Dis ook bekend as “nopale, opuntia” en ander name – word bevorder vir die behandeling van diabetes en moontlike ander siektes, soos hoë cholesterol, vetsug en babelas. Dit word ook erken as gevolg van sy antivirale en anti-inflammatoriese eienskappe. Turksvy-kaktus bevat vesel en pektien, wat die bloedglukose kan verlaag deur die opname van suiker in die maag en derm te verlaag.   Sommige navorsers dink dat dit  virusse in die liggaam kan doodmaak.  Heelwat navorsingstudies is gedoen en ook joernale gepubliseer.

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Indigenous to Mexico and an important food source since prehistoric times. It spread around the world in post-Columbian times, sometimes becoming troublesome weeds. Today, prickly pears are grown on a commercial scale in various countries, including, South Africa and the USA. One species at least was probably brought to the Cape in the seventeenth century. One almost certainly the Opuntia ficus-indica, South Africa’s most common prickly pear, was taken to the midland and eastern districts with the earliest Afrikaner frontier farmers in the eighteenth century. Travellers around Graaff-Reinet reported it in the 1770s and these specimens were probably the progenitors of wild, Eastern Cape prickly pear. It is called turksvy (Turkish fig) in Afrikaans, and Xhosa name itolofiya, is an adaptation of this. It is uncertainly when this word was adopted into Xhosa language, but was used in written sources in the late 19th Century and is recorded in Kropf’s Xhosa dictionary of 1899 as word loaned in Afrikaans.

Indigenous to Mexico and an important food source since prehistoric times. It spread around the world in post-Columbian times, sometimes becoming troublesome weeds. Today, prickly pears are grown on a commercial scale in various countries, including, South Africa and the USA. One species at least was probably brought to the Cape in the seventeenth century. One almost certainly the Opuntia ficus-indica, South Africa’s most common prickly pear, was taken to the midland and eastern districts with the earliest Afrikaner frontier farmers in the eighteenth century. Travellers around Graaff-Reinet reported it in the 1770s and these specimens were probably the progenitors of wild, Eastern Cape prickly pear. It is called turksvy (Turkish fig) in Afrikaans, and Xhosa name itolofiya, is an adaptation of this. It is uncertainly when this word was adopted into Xhosa language, but was used in written sources in the late 19th Century and is recorded in Kropf’s Xhosa dictionary of 1899 as word loaned in Afrikaans.

https://www.grocotts.co.za/2018/04/23/needs-a-headline-23/

https://www.rxlist.com/prickly_pear_cactus/supplements.htm

Modulation of Oxidative Stress: Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Aspects 2017
Opuntia spp.: Characterization and Benefits in Chronic Diseases
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/omcl/2017/8634249/

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Some preliminary evidence shows that prickly pear cactus can decrease blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Some research also suggests that prickly pear cactus extract may lessen the unpleasant effects of a hangover, possibly due to its anti-inflammatory effects. It might be too early to call prickly pear cactus a superfood, but it can be part of a healthy diet. It’s high in fiber, antioxidants and carotenoids. Indeed, prickly pear cactus is popular in many areas of the world, particularly Latin America, where it is a native plant. The edible parts are the leaves, flowers, stems and fruit. Prickly pear cactus is eaten whole (boiled or grilled). It is also made into juice and jams. If you’d like to try prickly pear cactus, consider easing into it. Side effects for some people include mild diarrhea, nausea, increased stool volume, increased stool frequency and abdominal fullness.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/expert-answers/prickly-pear-cactus/faq-20057771

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April 2020

There are different uses and one of the most multi-use crops – everything can be used.

Farmers can use the cactus pear to make fodder and silage, consumers can eat the fruit, biogas made from the plant can produce electricity, the fruit can be used to make oil, juice, jam, jelly, and chutney, and the cladodes can be turned into salads or preservatives like gherkins. Those interested in alcohol can use the cactus pear fruit to make beer, wine, mampoer, or liqueurs, Fouché says.

Right now there is a lot of interest in using the cactus pear fruit to make oil. The oil is used by the cosmetics industry to make face cream products. It has excellent healing properties, and so the oil can be used in ointments to help with burn wounds. More than 900 local farms that devote a total of about 4 500 hectares to cactus pear production, including 1 500 hectares to harvest the fruit and 3 000 hectares for fodder.

Cactus pear is a very labour-intensive crop during fruit harvesting, Fouché says.

A farm needs about five people per hectare to harvest the crop while out-of-season one worker per hectare is required to maintain the cactuses. During the harvest, local farms employ up to 7 500 people to pick prickly pear fruit.

In October in Pretoria a cactus pear fruit could sell for R7, or between R46 666 and R70 000 a tonne, with the fruit weighing between 100 grams and 150 grams. However, in the midseason during January and February, when there is usually an oversupply, a cactus pear can sell for R2 or between R13 333 and R20 000 a tonne. A hectare planted with prickly pear can yield between 20 and 30 tonnes of fruit a year, he says.

Assuming an average fruit yield of 20 tonnes per hectare, the value of the cactus pear fruit production harvested from 1 500 hectares at a price of R13 333 a ton could be worth at least R400 million. Cactus pear fruit is stocked by the major retail chains such as Pick n Pay, Woolworths, and Shoprite as well as by local fruit shops, greengrocers, and farmers’ markets, say Maryna de Wit of the UFS.

https://www.businessinsider.co.za/cactus-pear-farming-in-south-africa-2020-3

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The aqueous extract of prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) cladode has significant antiviral activity against Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV: family Bromoviridae). Antiviral activity of the extract was retained for a period of 9 days on treated faba bean leaves. This activity was considerably decreased at concentrations lower than 30 mg mL −1 , and by washing the treated leaves of faba bean plants 2 h after application of cactus extract, and was ineffective when applied 24 h after virus inoculation.

Prickly pear extract reduced the efficiency of CMV transmission by Aphis gossypii on treated cucumber seedlings. An antiviral protein designated Opuntin B was isolated from the extract by heat treatment and differential centrifugation, and bulk protein precipitation by ammonium sulfate followed by cation and anion exchange chromatography.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325144663_Antiviral_activity_of_prickly_pear_Opuntia_ficus-indica_L_Miller_extract_Opuntin_B_a_second_antiviral_protein

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An extract of the cactus plant Opuntia streptacantha inhibited intracellular virus replication and inactivated extracellular virus. Inhibition of virus replication also occurred following pre-infection treatment–a favourable finding in terms of in-vivo limitation of virus disease. There was inhibition of both DNA and RNA virus replication, for example, herpes simplex virus, equine herpes virus, pseudorabies virus, influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus and human immunodeficiency virus, with normal protein synthesis in uninfected cells at extract concentrations which were 15-fold in excess of 50% viral inhibitory concentrations (1 mg/ml).

The active inhibitory component(s) of the extract appeared to be protein in nature and resided mainly in the wall of the plant rather than in the cuticle or inner sap. The extract was non-toxic on oral administration to mice, horses and human patients; the non-toxicity of intravenous administration of 70 mg to a mouse representing at least fifty tissue culture 50% viral inhibitory dosages encourages clinical trial of this extract in virus disease of human and veterinary species.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8783800/

Inhibition of virus replication was obtained with both DNA and RNA viruses, for example herpes simplex virus of the herpesvirus group, influenza virus of the myxovirus group, respiratory syncytial virus of the paramyxovirus group and human immunodeficiency virus of the lentivirus group. There is evidence that the active inhibitory component(s) of the extract are protein in nature and reside mainly in the wall of the cactus plant rather than in the cuticle or inner sap.

https://patents.google.com/patent/WO1993011779A1/en