PASSION FRUIT PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT (Passiflora edulis )

VARIETIES

Uganda has a wide collection of passion fruits which consist of local purple, local yellow, kawanda hybrid selections, sweet granadila, introduced purple, yellow hybrid and hard shell varieties. Present popular varieties are the local purple and the kawanda hybrid.
The local purple is highly preferred for local and export markers due to its purple fruits being rich in aroma and flavor. However, it has small fruits. Its also susceptible to magor passion fruit diseases. The local small purple variety does well in cool wet areas.
The local yellow is highly valiable but generally has vigorous vine growth, large fruits comparebly more acidic than the local purple and its appreciable resistant to root rot diseases. It is presently used as a rootstock on graft otherwise susceptible superior fruiting commercial varieties
The kawanda hybrid is a cross between mubende local yellow and yellow passion fruit. It has large purple fruits, with vigorous vine growth habit and its high yielding.There are several kawanda hybrid types however, four clones with district productivity trends and characteristics have been identified. It is recommenden to plant two different clones together in an orchard to aid in fruit set. Kawanda hybrid has a fair resistance to major diseases than the local purple variety. The kawanda hybrid is more suitable for lowland warm humid areas butbwill also groe and fruit in the cool wel areas.
CURRENT STATUS OF PASSION FRUIT PRODUCTIO IN UGANDA
Passion fruits are  generally grown south of lake kyoga, the eastern, western and southern parts of the country. Acreage is estimated at 560ha with totle production of 3800tons
There are two harvesting seasons in a year, June to august and december to february after the rains. There is tremendous potential to increase productivity from increased acreage but also from increased yield per unit land area.
GROWTH REQUIREMENTS
The bimodal rainfall in most areas, constant temperature profile, and moderate relative humidity of uganda provides uniform fruit production throught the whole year. Local passion fruits are grown in many areas of uganda.Preferably, it does better in cooler areas and grows very well on slopes of rwenzori and elgon mountains. The local yellow and kawanda hybrid purple passion fruits grows better at altitude an warmer areas. They will grow in areas with un annual rainfall between 900-3750mm. Annual rainfall range
Light to heavy sandy loam soils are most suitable for passion fruits and a good drainage is essential to minimise the incidence of logging during heavy rains. The ideal soil PH should be near neutral i.e 6.5 – 7.5

PROPAGATION
Passion fruits can be propagated from seeds, cutting or grafting. For the local purple variety, it is recommended that seed propagation should be used with seeds planted every 1 to 2 years prior to
development of diseases on existing vines. By frequenting of cleaning seeds, the level of disease incidence is reduced.
Grafting onto a disease resistant rootstack also reduces the incidence of soil-borne diseases and need for chemical usage.
AGRONOMIC PRACTICES
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PLANTING SYSTEM
There are various planting systems for growing passion fruits:-  Trellis system of posts and wire  On live trees or bushes  On large detached branches fixed onto the ground. Growers can adapt various combinations of these systems to match their needs and available resources.
Due to there high costs, trellis systems are commonly used in Uganda on  only small purple fruits despite the higher yields achieved by using them
Construction of trellis  - using the trellis system for the local purple fruit, 2.5m long vertical posts of diameter 10 to 15cm are put into 0.5m deep holes and spaced 3m apart within rows and 3m apart between posts. For the kawanda hybrid, the posts should be at least 3.7m long and at least 15cm in diameter spaced according to how the plants are planted. Galvanised wires should be tied between tops to support the vines
There are 3 main trellis systems: -  vertical {one wire}, T {two wires on short cross bar} and Double T {wires with double support}. Some studies have shown that the t system [two parallel strands of wiree spaced equally on 0.9m wide t-bar supported on top of the posts] results in a significant increase in yields. As compared to single wire systems, the T bar system is not cost effective for small and medium sized growers.
SOIL PREPARATION AND PLANTING
A month before planting , the soil from the planting hole should be removed and enriched with manure [compost and one and ahalf kg SSP]. It should then be returned to the hole. Planting of seedlings should be done at the start of the season to avoid the need for irrigation at an early stage. Purple passion fruits should be spaced at least 2m between rows and 3m between plants with in rows. Kawanda hybrid should be spaced 1.4m between plants and rows
When using detached branches as supports, space plants to maximum of 3m apart for the local purple passion fruits. Short shrubs or trees also can be used as supporters onto which the vines twines up. Planting on very tall trees should be avoided because crop protection and harvesting becomes uneconomical and difficult.
TRAINING THE VAINES
3 or 4 vaines are allowed to grow up to the trellis wire, supported to the wire either by stake or a banana fibre. The vines should be trained up the stake by twining until it reaches the trellis wire. When the vines reaches the trellis wires 3branches are allowed to grow up the net.
PRUNNING
To prevent excessive growth, the sub-branches on the selected vines are removed on a regular basis. During pruning, dead plant materials and yellow and diseased leaves removed. Care should be taken that when pruning to not damage the stems to encourage growth
WEEDING
The area around the base of the vine [0.7-1.00m radius] should be heavily mulched to keep it free from weeds and to mantain moisture. The rest of the orchard should be kept covered with a crop or grass that is regularly slashed. The cover crop should be one that doesn’t share disease with passion fruit and does minimal disturbance to the soil especially at harvest. Cultivation through the orchard should be avoided becouse it causes root damage and hence creates openings for disease causing organisms.
WATER REQUIREMENT
Produce in uganda is almost entirely rain-fed. Availability of water to the plant encourage constant flowering. Since the plants are spaced far apart, hand watering may be required during excessively dry periods. Irrigation may be a method which could be used to spread the harvesting period , but trial results shown a double harvest
FERTILISER REQUREMENT
Application of a balanced fertiliser [NPK] will improve yield. At planting ahalf a 20ltr container with organic matter and ahalf kg of SSP are worked into the soil where the seedlings are planted. At the start of each rainy season NPK [10:5:20] shoul be applied around each plant
chloride are mixed thoroughly. About ahalf a kg of the mixture is applied around the root zone, some distance away from the base of
the plant at the start of the rains. Application of straight nitrogen fertilizers should be avoided since too much nitrogen quantity causes exsessive vegetative growth and premature fruit fall
INSECT PESTS AND DISEASES
For local purple variety, the best method of disease prevention is to harvest seeds from relatively young plants and to remove plants from two year onward as they develop disease symptoms. For the kawanda hybrid variety, plants may last up to 5 years depending on collar rot disease incidence
There are 3 main diseases affecting passion fruits in uganda:  Brown sport, collar rot and passion fruit woodness virus
COLLAR ROT DISEASE

FUSARIUM wilt is the most common in uganda lowland areas which have high maximum daily temperatures. The best method of contral is to graft purple and the kawanda hybrid onto rootstocks tolerant to collar rot. Chemical contral with copper oxychloride fungicide[60g per 20ltrs of water, applied as a drench or smear at the collar stem region] is effective for emmergyncy contral but is considered enviromentally unfriendly. Where there is no collar rot disease, plants can be propagated either through seeds or cuttings. To avoid building up of diseases new seedlings should be planted at different locations around the farm.
ALTENARIA BROWN SPOT

this is the most serious problem affecting  export fruit quality. To prevent leaf and fruit spots, remove dence foliage by prunning. Chemical treatments [Dithane M45, cobox, rindomil etc] can be used
PASSION FRUIT WOODNESS VIRUS causes green or yellow mottling on leaves, puckering, stunting, mis happening fruits and thick skins.
To prevent the virus use healthy seeds and remove diseased plants as soon as possible as noticed.
HARVESTING
Fruits are harvested 6 to 13 months after planting. Passion fruit begines to flower at 3 to 9 months after planting and the fruits are ready for harvest 90 days after pollination. Peak production is during the period june-sept and dec-march. Small passion fruits can be collected daily in season after falling to the ground or can be hand picked from the vines, preferably using a small pair of secateurs, leave them a small amount of stalk, The skin should be entirely smooth and the colour should be atleast 50 percent purple.
Care should be taken in handling to prevent fruit damage.
YIELD
The local purple yields on average of 6MT ha while Kawanda hybrid and the Yellow passion fruits yield 19Mtha

MARKET
Passion fruits have a wider market from door to door selling, market places, road venders, supermarkets, hotels, exporters and so on
SUMMERY OF SPRAYING
AT ONE MONTH
Indofil 70g , super grow 20mls, dudu accelemectine 20mls, nimbercidine 70mls and harvestor xl 20ml all mixed together in 20 liters of water
AT TWO MONTHS
Alternate super grow with easy grow vegetative
AT THREE MONTHS
Alternate easy grow vegetative with easy grow fruit and flower

RESEARCHED BY 

WANDERA     ALEXANDER

AFRICAN FOOD SECURITY AND CLIMATE ARMY (EAST AFRICAN COORDINATOR)

FIKA AFRIKA ADVOCACY FOUNDATION

+256773545347/+256704952509

alexanderwander14@gmail.com

My Environment is My Reesonsibilty

Iam  a student for Nature