I'm native of where Cactaceae are native, great family of plants. I'm highly dubious about the high yields and growth rates however. The nature of CAM is that the amount of photosynthesis that the plant can produce depends on the amount of malate stored as you indicate. Typically the story is very low water usage, but also relatively low productivity as most desert landscapes, even the opuntia dominated ones, will attest.
Nice article Fred,
I'm native of where Cactaceae are native, great family of plants. I'm highly dubious about the high yields and growth rates however. The nature of CAM is that the amount of photosynthesis that the plant can produce depends on the amount of malate stored as you indicate. Typically the story is very low water usage, but also relatively low productivity as most desert landscapes, even the opuntia dominated ones, will attest.
Fabrice