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

Table 4

Average values of one-way MANOVA of the quantitative pomological characteristics conducted on the cladodes of the local ecotype, Opuntia dillenii, and Opuntia robusta.

Cladode	Opuntia dillenii	Local ecotype	Opuntia robusta	Mean ± SE	Df	F
Length (cm)	13.5^b	21.52^a	16.43^b	17.15 ± 1.03	2	16.25
Width (cm)	5.35^c	9.13^b	15.63^a	10.04 ± 1.17	2	87.62
Length-to-width ratio	2.54^a	2.37^a	1.05^b	1.99 ± 0.19	2	25.25
Thickness base (cm)	1.03^c	1.98^b	2.55^a	1.86 ± 0.19	2	17.58
Thickness tip (cm)	0.44^b	0.52^b	1.53^a	0.83 ± 0.14	2	27.27
Number of areoles per cladode	38.2^c	152.2^a	100.2^b	96.86 ± 12.78	2	110.64
Number of areoles in the center row	3^b	6^a	5.4^a	4.8 ± 0.36	2	47.25
Largest distance between areoles (cm)	2.42^b	1.69^c	3.04^a	2.38 ± 0.17	2	15.59
Number of spines per areole in the center row	00^c	2.2^a	1.6^b	1.26 ± 0.26	2	38.8
Number of spines per areole in board	00^b	3^a	2.8^a	1.93 ± 0.38	2	60.28
Length of the longest spine (cm)	00^c	2.95^b	3.4^a	2.13 ± 0.41	2	292.47
Weight of cladode (g)	18.28^c	70.94^b	228.42^a	105.88 ± 24.11	2	274.47

According to the analysis of variance, (± standard error) means followed by the same letters are not significantly different . , , , and NS denotes not significant.