Passion fruit is known for its high returns and demand for juice formulation. However, as a farmer, do you know the difference between yellow and purple passion fruits? How do they behave in different climate conditions? What soil do they perform best? These are the Best passion fruits varieties
Yellow Passion Fruits
Yellow passion tends to do well in lower midland and lowland zones that often receive moderate rainfall.
Under good management, it grows more vigorously, producing larger 5-7 cm in diameter fruits. Big fruits mean high production per acre on a weight basis.
This type of variety is acidic and used in juice production. It is cheap to manage as it has resistance to fusarium wilt with high tolerance to Phytophthora Root Rot, Nematodes, and Brown Spot. Thus, yellow passion is used as a rootstock for purple passion fruit.
You can go for this variety for starters, but first, have done good market research.
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Purple Passion Fruit
Loved for its superior and aromatic flavour, purple passion fruit has received a wide range of acceptance from fresh market, juice extraction, to export. This high demand has seen its farmgate price of a kilogram of purple passion rise higher than yellow passion.
Purple passion fruit does well in upper midland and upper highland zones that receive high rainfall. It can produce fruits of 4-5 cm under good management.
It is not resistant to many diseases, and that is why its often grafted with yellow passion rootstock.
Both varieties do well in loamy soils, which are deep and well-drained with a pH of 5.5-6.5
Reference: MOALF/SHEP PLUS
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