Various diseases affect sour passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) crop. The root system diseases limit the cultivation in different areas. Passiflora wild species are considered resistant or tolerant root diseases of passion fruit. The use of resistant species as rootstocks is a goal to overcome the disease problems. The study of growth and horticultural performance of Passiflora edulis grafted over wild Passiflora species are important to support the adoption of grafted plants in the orchards. This research studied the feasibility of grafting and the early growth of sour passion fruit grafted on P. alata, P. cincinnata, P. edulis, P. gibertii, P. morifolia, and P. mucronata, compared with P. edulis seedlings. The plants were grafted 60 days after sowing the seeds of the rootstocks. The experiment was evaluated for 105 days. The evaluated traits were scion survival, plant height, internode length, number of leaves, diameter of the rootstock and scion, leaf area and dry weight of shoots and roots. The scion survival was over 90%, except over P. morifolia, which did not issue shoots and the plant perished soon after. P. edulis/P. gibertii had lower height than P. edulis/P. mucronata, but similar number of leaves, demonstrating dwarf effect of P. gibertii due to reduced internodes. P. edulis/P.edulis had the largest scion diameter, indicating higher grafting compatibility within the same species. Among the wild species, P. mucronata used as rootstock provided greater shoot growth.
Passiflora edulis ; propagation; grafting; seedling production
