Known as the king of juices, passion fruit is beloved in the consumer market. The cultivation area of passion fruit in Taiwan exceeds 682 hectares, with a fresh fruit yield of approximately 11,000 metric tons and a production value of around 800 million NTD. In response to the needs of domestic passion fruit cultivators, Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station, M.O.A. (TSIPS) has successfully developed mass production technology of passion fruit using tissue culture after years of research. The developed technique utilizes single-node cuttings for propagation along with adjustments to the medium formula, avoiding callus induction. This helps prevent genetic variations and instability caused by callus tissue and regeneration. The practice enables the in-bottle maintenance and mass propagation of passion fruit seedlings, mitigating external risks associated with the production of seedlings in traditional mother orchards. The technique can be connected with present mother plant production and scion orchards, therefore facilitating the production of passion fruit seedlings for grafting purposes.

TSIPS said that passion fruit has a large cultivation area in Taiwan, with high value in both the fresh fruit market and processing applications. Traditionally, propagating seedlings are mainly from grafted seedlings. Owing to the perennial nature of crops, passion fruit plants are susceptible to virus diseases, hindering plant growth and impacting fruit quality. In Taiwan, a practice of annually clearing out entire orchards and replanting with virus-free healthy seedlings has been implemented to control viral diseases in the field. To meet the cultivation needs of fruit farmers, we have been actively involved in developing the passion fruit tissue culture propagation technology. Our developed approach, not only can provide a large quantity of specific-virus-free (SPF) tissue-cultured seedlings with virus detection for use in the scion grafting and seedling industry but also can help to reduce variations caused by callus tissues, shorten seedling production time, and stabilize seedling quality. This will benefit to establishment of a stable production mode connected to the industrial chain.

Due to the rising popularity of passion fruit among domestic consumers, farmers have increased their willingness to cultivate. As a result, there is a corresponding surge in demand for passion fruit seedlings. Our passion fruit tissue culture propagation technology plays a crucial role in meeting the seedling production needs of the industrial supply chain. Growers and seedling professionals are welcome to contact TSIPS for further inquiries (04-25825430, or E-mail: cluwen@tss.gov.tw).

▲Figure 1. Beauty and flavor Fruit of passion fruit		▲Figure.2.The Passion Fruit exhibits robust growth during tissue culture propagation in vitro.
▲Figure 3. The tissue-cultured seedlings of Passion Fruit 　exhibit a well-established root system.