Journal of the Professional Association for Cactus Development. 2022, 24, 139-148 https://www.jpacd.org/jpacd Leaf production and gel quality of Aloe vera (L.) Burm. F. under irrigation regimens in northern Mexico Aurelio Pedroza-Sandoval 1 , Nidia Susana Sifuentes-Rodríguez 1 , Ricardo Trejo-Calzada 1 , Jorge A. Zegbe- Dominguez 2* , Rafael Minjares-Fuentes 3 , José A. Samaniego-Gaxiola 4 1 Universidad Regional Universitaria de Zonas Áridas. Universidad Autónoma Chapingo. Km.40 Carretera Gómez Palacio-Chihuahua CP. 56230. México. 2 Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias. Campo Experimental Zacatecas, Km. 24.5 Carretera Zacatecas-Fresnillo, Calera de V.R., Zacatecas, 98500, México. 3 Facultad de Ciencias Químicas de la Universidad de Juárez del Estado de Durango, Av. Universidad s/n. Fraccionamiento Filadelfia, C.P. 35010. Gómez Palacio, Durango, México. 4 Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agrícolas y Pecuarias. Campo Experimental La Laguna. Boulevard José Santos Valdez 1200 Pte. C.P. 27440, Matamoros, Coahuila. México. * Corresponding author: zegbe.jorge@inifap.gob.mx Abstract. The derivatives of aloe plant leave [Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f.], such as gel, juice, and powder, are highly appreciated in the industrial sector. This study evaluated the effect of different soil moisture contents on the growth, production, and gel quality of aloe grown in an arid region of Mexico. The study was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Base on the percentage of field capacity (FC), three irrigation treatments were tested: 42%, 72%, and 100% of FC corresponding, on average (± standard deviation), to 0.12 ± 0.02 m 3 m -3 (as control), 0.18 ± 0.02 m 3 m -3 , and 0.24 ± 0.02 m 3 m -3 of soil water content, respectively. Aloe plants watered with 72% of FC had greater plant height and leaf width than plants watered at 42% of field capacity, while plants with 100% of FC treatment had the longest (56.1 cm) and thickest (1.5 cm) leaves. Aloe plants irrigated at either 72% or 100% of field capacity produced the freshest leaf biomass and gel. In contrast, plants grown at 42% of field capacity treatments had the highest pH (4.94), total soluble solids (1.77 °Brix), ash content (0.62%), methanol- precipitated solids (1.24%), and total solids (1.88%) of aloe gel. Even though the lowest soil moisture content (42% of field capacity) reduced plant and leaf growth and leaf and gel yields, gel quality was enhanced, meeting the gel quality standards demanded by the international market. Keywords: Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f.; soil moisture content; irrigation; crop yields; gel quality. Introduction Aloe [A. vera (L.) Burm. f.] is a popular industrial crop worldwide that provides the raw materials for the processing of different industrial products (Artunduaga et al., 2021). Leaf gel of aloe contains mannose polymers with various sugars that are useful in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries (Javed and ur-Rahman, 2014). Aloe leaf gel can be used for effective encapsulation systems for nutraceutical, functional, and other pharmaceutical products to replace maltodextrin (Medina- Torres et al., 2019) or to preserve perishable fresh produce based on its rheological properties (Nicolau-Lapeña et al., 2021; Minjares-Fuentes et al., 2017; Ortega-Toro et al., 2017). Aloe leaf contains active compounds such as aloesaponarin-I and Citation: Pedroza-Sandoval, A., Sifuentes-Rodríguez, N. S., Trejo- Calzada, R., Zegbe-Dominguez, J. A., Minjares-Fuentes, R., Samaniego- Gaxiola, J. A. 2022. Leaf production and gel quality of Aloe vera (L.) Burm. F. under irrigation regimens in northern Mexico. Journal of the. Professional Association for Cactus Development. 24: 139-148. https://doi.org/10.56890/jpacd.v24i.49 7. Associate Editor: José Luis García- Hernández Technical Editor: Tomas Rivas-Garcia Received date:19 January 2022 Accepted date:11 August 2022 Published date:17 August 2022 Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Submitted for possible open access publication under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY NC SA) license (https://creativecommons.org/license s/by-nc-sa/4.0/).