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http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0100-2945-447/13

Cereus Peruvianus (KouBo) neW cactus FruIt

For the World1
yoSeF MizRahi2

aBstract-Several different species of the columnar cacti of the genera Stenocereus and Pachycereus,
were introduced into different semi-arid ecozones in israel and most of these efforts were of disappointing
outcomes, the only exception being the Cereus peruvianus (l.) Miller,which bore plenty of fruits, some of
them of good taste. The original seeds of this plant were obtained from the late Mr. amram (Ron) Kodish,
who collected seeds from various private gardens in Southern california which bore fruits of reasonable
qualities. The initial success of this species led us to initiate an intensive research study, and today it is
already fruit-crop, marketed mainly in israel under the name “Koubo”.
This paper will describe our work of domestication of this new cactus fruit crop in israel.
Index terms: Cereus peruvianus, koubo, cacti.

KouBo-uma nova Fruta para o mundo

resumo - Várias espécies diferentes de cactos colunares dos gêneros Stenocereus e Pachycereus, foram
introduzidos em diferentes ecozones semiáridas em israel, a maioria desses esforços foram de resultados
decepcionantes, a única exceção sendo apenas o Cereus peruvianus (l.) Miller, que tinha muitas frutas,
algumas delas com gosto bom. as sementes originais desta planta foram obtidas a partir do falecido Sr.
amram (Ron) Kodish, que coletou sementes de vários jardins privados do sul da califórnia e que haviam
dado frutos de qualidades razoáveis. o sucesso inicial desta espécie nos levou a iniciar um estudo intensivo, e
atualmente existe uma produção dessas frutas, comercializados principalmente em israel sob o nome “Koubo”.
termos para indexação: Cereus peruvianus, koubo, cacto.
et al 1993). The original seeds of this plant were
IntroductIon obtained from the late Mr. amram (Ron) Kodish,
For centuries, the indigenous people of latin who collected seeds from various private gardens in
america have been using the fruits of various species Southern california which bore fruits of reasonable
of columnar cacti, known to them as pitayas, for food qualities. The initial success of this species led us to
and other applications (Pimienta-Barrios & nobel initiate an intensive research study, and today it is
1994; Pimienta-Barrios, et al 1997, ortiz-hernández, already fruit-crop, marketed mainly in israel under
1999). during the past decades, we and others have the name “Koubo”.
been making attempts to convert these wild or semi- it is noteworthy that in South africa this in-
wild cacti, known only in their country of origin, into troduced species is known as an invader pest (Moran
new cacti-fruit crops and introduce them into Western & zimmermann 1991; olckers 2004). This paper
and other world markets (Pimienta-Barrios & noble will describe our work of domestication of this new
1998; Pimienta-Barrios & noble 1995; Pimienta- cactus fruit crop.
Barrios & noble 1998; Pimienta-Barrios et al 1997;
Pimienta-Barrios et al 1998; nerd et al 1990; nerd taxonomy
et al 1993; nerd & Mizrahi 2002). Several different
species of the columnar cacti of the genera Stenocer- We originally obtained the seeds of this new
eus and Pachycereus, were introduced into different crop under the scientific name of Cereus peruvianus
semi-arid ecozones in israel, most of these efforts (l.) Miller. after publishing several papers which
were of disappointing outcomes, the only exception used this name, we received responses from Brazilian
being the Cereus peruvianus (l.) Miller,which bore researchers asserting that the plant mentioned in our
plenty of fruits, some of them of good taste (nerd et papers is in fact Cereus jamacaru from the semi-arid
al 1990; nerd et al 1993; nerd & Mizrahi 2002; Weiss zones of Brazil, known there by the local name of

1
(Trabalho 447-13). Recebido em: 20-09-2013. aceito para publicação em: 15-12-2013. Palestra ii Simpósio internacional de Fruti-
cultura- Frutas exóticas, 21 a 25 de outubro de 2013. Jaboticabal-SP.
2
department of life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the negev, Beer-Sheva, israel. e-mail: [email protected]

Rev. Bras. Frutic., Jaboticabal - SP, v. 36, n. 1, p. 068-078, Março 2014

 Y. MIZRAH 69

Mandacaru. Mandacaru is consumed by the local crack and thus these clones should be considered as
people as a wild-cactus-fruit. My colleague dr. a. future parents for further breeding of new clones,
nerd visited Brazil and brought with him seeds of C. to avoid the fruit cracking problem. Four of the 8
jamacru collected from the wild near independência, selected clones showed peel blackening sometime
ceará. indeed, there is a close similarity between the after harvest even though their taste was still good,
two accessions but also some differences (Mizrahi reminiscent of bananas (Fig 5). These genotypes
& nerd 1999; Gutman et al 2001). all C. jamacaru serve today mainly as pollen sources for the commer-
seedlings which we tested (several dozens), produced cial varieties. it is very interesting to note that these
un-tasty almost inedible fruits. Today we believe sensitive clones do not show this peel blackening in
that the C. jamacaru might be a subspecies of C. the arava valley where average summer temperatures
peruvianus (Gutman et al 2001). This notion was may rise to 40⁰c concomitant with 10% air humidity
strengthened by performing crosses between the two (unpublished data). There was no difference in fruit
species, which showed that the two can pollinate each cracking between the arava hot valley and other
other and produce viable seedlings (Gutman 2001). regions in israel (leshem et al 2003). This species
This compatibility is not necessarily an indication can tolerate these high temperatures with no problem.
that the two are the same species, as we found that however, subfreezing temperatures (-6⁰c for several
in vine-cacti inter-specific and even inter-generic hours) can eradicate a whole plantation. at -2⁰c some
crosses can produce viable offspring (Tel-zur et al clones were heavily damaged while others survived
2004; Tel-zur et al 2011). however, it is important and produced the same yield in the following summer
to note that C. jamacaru is another important genetic as in normal years (unpublished data). hence, it is
source for breeding. after successfully domesticating possible to breed for sub-freezing tolerant varieties.
C. peruvianus in israel, we nicknamed it “Koubo” - a Molecular typing of various genotypes analyzed by
name which is easy to pronounce (Fig.1). random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) tech-
nique demonstrated that this species has a limited
Species characteristics, genetics and breeding. genetic base and additional germplasm is required
for further efficient clone improvement (Gutman et
among several hundreds of seedlings germi- al 2001).
nated from the C. peruvianus seed batch we obtained The C. peruvianus species is basically self-
from Mr. amram Kodish, we found around 8 geno- incompatible (Weiss et al 1994). Unlike the vine-
types which were of good taste and selected them for cacti, not a single genotype was found to be able to
further breeding. Those chosed for further breeding pollinate itself. Another important finding is that not
were also aromatic which adds a lot to the taste as every genotype can pollinate others. it is reminiscent
we found later in our research into the fruit quality of the S1 S2 mechanism of in-compatibility which is
which will be discussed later (ninio et al 2003,a & also found in other fruit trees (newbigin et al 1993).
b). We found significant differences in spine length To guarantee fruit production throughout the year, we
on the shoots. in the spiny genotypes the size of the have to match compatible clones for early, medium
spines declines with the seedling age, from 25 cm and late season of flowering and fruiting clones. It
at the base of the young seedlings (old shoots) to is of major interest to try producing self-compatible
2-3 cm in the new emerging youngest shoots. The clones by doubling the chromosomes as was done
non-spiny genotypes have very small spines, of with the vine-cacti and some other plants (cohen &
around 5 mm in length even on old shoots and are Tel-zur 2012).
almost spineless at the top. The fruit itself is in all This plant is also used as gardening plant
cases smooth with no spines (Figs 1, 2 & 3). Fruit known under the name “Princess of the night”.
flesh color is usually white (Fig. 2), while a very This is due to its nocturnal flowers which will open
pale yellowish color may occur in the flesh of some for only one night. in June we found that there are
genotypes. The peel color varies from shiny deep- 2 groups of clones. in some of the genotypes the
red through pinkish-yellow to yellow (Figs 1, 2 & anthers will dehisce at around 18.00 and the flowers
3). The most important characteristic after taste was will start to open 30 minutes later at twilight, when
fruit cracking (Fig 4). over 95% of the seedlings had honey bees are still active. They come to drink the
fruits which cracked before full ripening took place. nectar which is secreted at the base of the flower. If
For further selection we chose genotypes with either compatible clones are planted next to each other, pol-
almost no fruit cracking, or minor cracking of no lination is possible at that time. The anther dehiscence
more than 15%. it is interesting to note that almost of other clones takes place at 19.00, in which flowers
all of the C. jamacaru seedlings we checked did not will open a few minutes before sunset so the time

Rev. Bras. Frutic., Jaboticabal - SP, v. 36, n. 1, p. 068-078, Março 2014

70 Cereus Peruvianus (KoUBo) neW cacTUS FRUiT....

remaining for bee grazing is very limited and almost nursery mix to root. Within a few weeks roots are
no pollination takes place (Weiss et al 1994). after produced and plants are ready to be transferred into
sunrise bees and other day time insects will visit the the orchard. This will guarantee the establishment
flowers, however the flower is too big for efficient of over 97% of plants. direct planting of cuttings
pollination by these insects (Fig.6). in nature polli- into the orchard is also feasible but the rate of plant
nation is performed by big insects and even by fruit establishment is lower ~ 80-85%. We also were able
bats (Silva & Sazima 1995). Today in commercial to regenerate whole plants from shoot slices contain-
orchards all flowers are hand pollinated by the grow- ing a single areole (Fig 10); however, it took 4 more
ers. The pollen is collected by car vacuum cleaners, years to achieve full plant production. Today we
mixed with various existing clones and applied by recommend establishing the 40-50cm long cuttings
hand with a small brush. This action guarantees over in pots, and then transfer them into the orchard.
95% fruit set. Fruit sizes of open pollination from
compatible clones grown in close proximity will be if planting an orchard for hand pollination,
60% of the size of hand pollinated clones (Weiss et one clone can be grown in one separate section of
al 1994). The flowers are produced throughout the the orchard. Pollen will be collected from the pol-
warm season from June to October. One can find linizers section and applied daily from early morning
flower buds, flowers and fruits of various degrees of to about 9.00 am. This is to allow efficient pollina-
development on the shoots at the same time, (Fig.7). tion when flower is open and the stigma is exposed
We expected columnar cacti to be tolerant to salinity (Figs 6&7). One thousand flowers can be pollinated
but found them to be severely stressed by 3.5 dS/m of per hour if a big wave of flowers exists. If pollina-
saline water. The picture presented in Fig. 8 was taken tion by bees and/or other pollinizers is considered,
in the arava valley where the main salinity source is then near each plant, a compatible clone should be
ca, Mg, and sulphates which are less toxic than na, planted expecting reduction in fruit sizes of ~ 40%
and chloride ions. Salinity of 2 dS/m hardly stressed (Weiss et al 1994). We recommend planting 5X2
the Koubo and commercial yields were obtained by m distances in the Koubo orchard. Roots are much
irrigation at this degree of salinity (Fig.9). deeper than the vine-cacti, reaching a depth of 1.5
To the best of our knowledge no irrigation m. in areas where summer rains prevail, irrigation
and/or fertilization experiments have been performed might be unnecessary.
with this plant. however, since it is a caM plant the Tree pruning is performed in winter, to reduce
applied irrigation is around 10% of what is used to the plant’s height to allow easy access to both flowers
irrigate c3 fruit trees, around 100 mm per year (see and fruits, and to open the tree canopy to allow easy
table 4 in Mizrahi et al 2007). all orchards are drip access to fruits and flowers and allow light penetra-
irrigated and we use fertigation methods, namely with tion (Fig. 11).
each irrigation we deliver fertilizers of 23/7/23 n/P/K
with minor elements. When growers added in each Fruit development, ripening and posthar-
irrigation 70 ppm n of this fertilizer they obtained vest behavior.
yields of 20-25 ton/hectare/year. Since so far in israel
we have not found any pests, this crop is commonly Fruit start to develop after pollination with
grown using organic protocols, with animal manure compatible pollen. The first stage is a fast growth
as fertilizer and covering soil with plastic sheets to period (~ 15 days) followed by a slower-rate period
avoid the use of weed-killers (Fig. 9). (about 10 days) which is then followed by another
fast growth period, until full ripening. Fruit reach
Propagation. maximum mass about 45-50 days after anthesis. The
first color appears after ~ 35 days while full color is
Since this species is self-incompatible, propa- reached at 45-50 days after anthesis. Seeds develop
gation from seeds is used for breeding, to obtain new mainly during the second period when growth rate
genotypes. a lot of work was done by Machado, is slowed down. after this stage seeds have a hard
Mangolin and other coworkers on various techniques black coat and can germinate. at the end of the
for vegetative propagation including mini-propaga- fruit-development-stage (~ 45-50 days) over 95%
tion ones. (Machado & Prioli 1996, Mangolin et al of the fruits start to dehisce and crack (Fig. 4). This
2002). however, we found that propagation from is a major obstacle for growing various clones for
cuttings is the easiest and cheapest way. Shoots are the market. lack of fruit cracking is an essential
cut to 40-50 cm long sections, dried for a week under characteristic for development of this species. Unfor-
shade to heal the open wound and then put into any tunately harvesting the fruits in early stages of fruit

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 Y. MIZRAH 71

development leads to un-tasty inedible fruit (Wang ela’azar from the israeli Ministry of agriculture. She
1997). To reach reasonable taste one has to harvest exposed around 100 persons to taste test of koubo
the fruits around full color stage where most clones fruits. These testers were first time tasters of kuobo
will crack. The clones we selected can be harvested and 84% of them claimed that they liked it and were
almost at full color stage and then stored for a few ready to consume it on a regular basis provided the
weeks. They should be stored at 10ºc since lower price will be reasonable. Today the fruit is sold for
temperatures will induce chilling injury, not only 8-10 Shekels/Kg as a gate-price (1 $US = 3.7 new
in blackening of the peel but also development of israeli Shekels). Fresh fruits are available in the
off-flavor. We analyzed fruit composition both im- markets from July to January.
mediately after harvest and 2 weeks later after storage
at 10ºc. Results are given in Table 1. one should em-
phasize the following; water content is around 85%, uses other than fresh fruit.
the fruit is rich in fibers (mucilage), and low in sugars.
Before ripening the polysaccharide content declines Stems of this species include many kinds of
concomitant with rise in soluble sugars. The main polysaccharides. The arabinogalactan was found
sugars are glucose and fructose with traces of sucrose. to have anti-ulcer properties and can be used for
during ripening, the titratable acidity value decreased phytotherapy (Tanaka et al 2010). in israel polysac-
by 50% concomitant with the rise in ph. The main charides (mucilage) from fruit and stems are used as
acid was malic (~80%), along with citric, oxalic a base for various cosmetic products (unpublished
and Succinic acids (Wang 1997; ninio et al 2003a and confidential information). Shoot waxes were
and ninio et al 2003b). due to its low sugar content identified and may be used for various wax needs
this fruit can possibly be recommended for diabetics. (dembitsky & Rezanka 1996; hughs, et al 1980).
The fruit emits a unique perfume-like odor. Volatiles We developed several food products from the ripe
analysis showed that the main component is linalool fruit, among them jam, dry slices of the fruit and
and its derivatives. When the fruit is allowed to reach excellent aromatic liquor.
full ripening in storage, the amount of linalool is 17
times higher than in tree-ripe cracked fruit (ninio et
al 2003b). This aroma adds a lot to the acceptance
of the fruit by tasters (Wang 1997). We can use the
fruit peel color as a reliable ripening index. Before
ripening the fruit is green, then changes its color to
violet where chlorophyll and betalains red pigments
exist together. as the chlorophyll disappears the
color is changed to full red in the red clones. The
fruit peel stretches and becomes smooth. The best
eating quality is reached when the fruit is fully red,
however, since fruit cracking appears in most clones,
it is recommended to harvest the fruit where some
violet still exists and peel is fully stretched. When
fruit is stored at 10ºc, shelf-life is over one month
which allows the sea-freight to europe from israel
which is around 10% of the air-freight cost. Reducing
the storage temperature to 4ºc, will result in sever
chilling injury symptoms such as; peel shriveling and
blackening, watery pulp concomitant with off-flavor
(Wang 1997).
The fruit is of un-climacteric type but when
exposed to ethylene rapid ripening and deterioration
will occur (Wang 1997). hence, it is advisable to
ship this fruit in a separate container, not mixed with
climacteric fruits.
Marketing of new crop is a major obstacle to
the success of establishing sustainable crop (Mizrahi
et al 2002). in 2002 a survey was performed by Rut

Rev. Bras. Frutic., Jaboticabal - SP, v. 36, n. 1, p. 068-078, Março 2014

 Y. MIZRAH 73

FIGure 2- appearance of ripe red clone of C. peruviaus fruit. The black seeds embedded in the white flesh
are soft and edible, reminiscent of Kiwi fruit.

FIGure 3- Spineless, smooth, fully ripe yellowish –pinky fruit of Cereus peruvianus attached to a spiny
shoot.

FIGure 4- Violet wrinkled and fully ripe red cracked fruits of Cereus peruvianus.

Rev. Bras. Frutic., Jaboticabal - SP, v. 36, n. 1, p. 068-078, Março 2014

74 Cereus Peruvianus (KOUBO) NEW CACTUS FRUIT....

FIGure 5- Black patches over the red peel of C. peruvianus fruit appeared after storage. The fruit is still
aromatic, tasty and edible, similar to ripe bananas.

FIGure 6- Open flower of C. peruvianus with bee and other insect at 8.00 am in Beer-Sheva experimental
orchard (university campus). These insects can go in and out of the flower without touching
the stigma. hence, hand pollination is necessary to guarantee fruit set.

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 Y. MIZRAH 75

FIGure7- Cereus peruvianus shoot with flower buds, flowers at full anthesis and closed old flowers, together
with developing wrinkled fruits. The black dry corolla abscised from the top end of the set fruit.

FIGure 8- nine-year-old Cereus peruvianus orchard, suffering from irrigation-water-salinity of 4dS/m,

with major ions of ca, Mg and Sulphates. note the white circles of salt around some plants.
The picture was taken in Qetura (southern arava Valley, israel).

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76 Cereus Peruvianus (KOUBO) NEW CACTUS FRUIT....

FIGure 9- Productive Cereus peruvianus orchard in ein-yahav (northen arava valley), irrigated with 2
dS/m water where major ions are similar to Qetura (as seen in Fig. 8). This orchard is treated
with an organic protocol. note the plastic sheets on the soil to avoid weeds.

FIGure 10- one year old Cereus peruvianus plant, propagated by a single areole of a shoot slice. These
plants are lagging behind plants which were propagated in the recommended way, namely,
40-50cm long shoot cuttings.

FIGure 11- Five-year-old pruned orchard of C. peruvianus. The plants were trained and shaped to ease
pollination and fruit harvest, and maximize light passage into the plant canopy.

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 Y. MIZRAH 77

hUGhS, J.; RaMoS, G.; Moyna, P. Main

conclusIons components in Cereus peruvianus epicuticular Wax.
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only three years to commercial production; can be of Cereus peruvianus Mill (cactaceae) by areole
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