Thickening or stunting of Opuntia ficus-indica cladodes is one of the most striking diseases of the crop. It is characterized by the development of abnormally thickened cladodes, dwarfism and malformations. To describe the histological changes and to quantify hormones and nutritional elements in thickened cladodes, microscopic histological sections were compared, and hormones and nutritional elements were quantified from thickened and healthy cladodes. Greater heterogeneity was found at the cellular and tissue level in symptomatic compared to asymptomatic cladodes. Hypertrophy and hyperplasia were found in some areas of the thickened cladode tissues. Moreover, an increase in tracheids and vessel elements was observed, and several of these vascular bundles were damaged. On the other hand, the presence of a greater amount of amyloplasts and calcium oxalate crystals was found in the parenchyma of thickened cladodes than in the healthy ones. Additionally, there were no significant differences in the accumulation of the ABA, IAA, AG3 and zeatin hormones between thickened and healthy cladodes from plants established in the greenhouse with experimental nutritional conditions. On the contrary, the potassium, nitrogen, sodium and zinc elements were accumulated with lower quantity in thickened than in healthy cladodes, with levels of 68.3%, 67.6%, 55.3% and 36.2%, respectively, while phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, manganese and iron were accumulated in greater amounts in thickened cladodes compared to healthy cladodes, with levels of 20.3%, 17.2%, 16.1%, 256.1% and 200.2%, respectively. These findings improved our understanding of the physiological and anatomical mechanisms of this disease.

仙人掌变厚或发育不良枝条是作物最显着的病害之一。它的特点是异常增厚的枝条、侏儒症和畸形的发展。为了描述增厚分支中的组织学变化并量化激素和营养元素，比较了显微组织切片，并从增厚和健康的分支中量化了激素和营养元素。与无症状分支相比，在有症状的细胞和组织水平上发现更大的异质性。在增厚的枝叶组织的某些区域发现肥大和增生。此外，观察到气管和血管成分的增加，并且这些维管束中的一些受损。另一方面，在增厚的枝条的薄壁组织中发现的淀粉体和草酸钙晶体的数量比健康的多。此外，在具有实验营养条件的温室中建立的植物的增厚枝叶和健康枝叶之间的 ABA、IAA、AG3 和玉米素激素的积累没有显着差异。相反，钾、氮、钠和锌元素的积累量低于健康枝条，分别为 68.3%、67.6%、55.3% 和 36.2%，而磷、钙、镁、锰与健康的枝条相比，在增厚的枝条中积累更多的铁和铁，分别达到 20.3%、17.2%、16.1%、256.1% 和 200.2%。