Growth and vegetative development of cuttings from different Red Flower Passion Fruit (Passiflora trintae Sacco) genotype populations in different substrates

Abstract

Optimizing vegetative passionfruit propagation and assessing substrate effects have been explored in several studies. However, assessments concerning wild Passiflora genus species focusing on plant conservation are still scarce. In this sense, this study aimed to evaluate the vegetative growth of 54 genotypes from the cuttings of two passion 'red flower' (Passiflora trintae Sacco) at the farthest points of the city of Vitória da Conquista, Bahia.  The cuttings were subjected to the three different substrates: i) soil with manure, ii) washed sand, and iii) vermiculite. All experiments were carried out under greenhouse conditions in the Southwest area of the state of Bahia, Brazil. The study followed a completely randomized design, in which genotypes from two plant populations were evaluated at three distinct time points (30, 60, and 90 days) based on five variables related to survival and vegetative growth. Vermiculite resulted in the highest cutting survival rates across all three evaluation periods, consistently outperforming other assessed variables. Additionally, this study identified superior genotypes with enhanced rooting and vegetative vigor potential.