Perspective for the Sabila (Aloe vera barbadensis) Production in the Mexico Sonoran Desert

Abstract

Sabila is a plant that by his multiple applications in the medicine as in the naturist feeding and the cosmetics industry is taking a lot of importance at world-wide level. In addition, this is a crop that requires little amount of water to be developed satisfactorily, for this reason this crop is a good alternative to cultivate in the agricultural areas of the sonoran desert. The objective of this study was to determine the viability to produce sabila in the sonoran desert. During Summer 2002, two experiments of sabila was conducted, and distributed on two agricultural areas of the sonoran desert: The first experiment was carried out in two location of the agricultural region of Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico, (“The Nariz” and “The Papago” farm). The second experiment was carried out in two lacation of the agricultural region of Caborca, Sonora, Mexico, (“The Bizani” and “The Coast” area) being the less cold area. During the first year we evaluated the surviving plants and the sprout emission. The result indicated that the plant in the Sonoyta region is more affected for the winter frosts, and it is reflected in a smaller average of surviving plants, being this of 78.6% and 97.8% in Sonoyta and Caborca respectively. Also we observed an effect in the percentage of plants that present sprout emission, being this of 11.25% and 23.65% in Sonoyta and Caborca respectively. Apparently the agricultural area of caborca has suitable condition for Sabila production.