Propagation and management of ornamental and commercial cacti– a review

ABSTRACT

Cacti are one of the most diverse and widespread plants globally. They are useful in numerous ways, including food, medicine, and ornamental plants. This review aimed to synthesise current and potential uses of cacti, methods of propagation, threats by invasive cacti, control and management of invasiveness, and socio-economic synthesis of the cacti industry. Because of the attractive unique morphology of the plant, it’s used as ornamental plant globally. For commercial scale cacti production, both molecular and classical breeding methods are employed. Advantages of micropropagation of cacti for mass-scale production, compared to sexual propagation were identified. The potential for the application of molecular techniques in the cacti industry is high. Regardless of slow growth, cacti trade is a highly profitable market. However, due to slow growth, the cost of cultivation and maintenance should be considered. Sometimes, wild cacti are used for commercialisation in the international and illegal market. The species selection for commercialisation is vital for farmers. However, introduction of high quantities of ornamental cacti to other countries increases the risk of cacti being invasive in the future. In this review, while managing invasive cacti, the international trade in rare expensive cacti is addressed.

KEYWORDS:

• Ornamental cactus
• cactus breeding and micropropagation
• international cactus trade
• invasive cacti management

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the constructive suggestion support provided by Mr. Siri Fernando by reading the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Additional information

Funding

The financial support provided by the research grant [Grant Number: RP/03/02/01/03/2020] of University of Kelaniya is greatly appreciated.