Research on Passiflora genetic resources
The genus Passiflora includes several Andean species that are economically important to local, regional and international markets. Other species, traditionally grown in home gardens or collected from the wild, are falling into disuse because of lack of development, despite their potential to become commercial crops. Population pressure in the region is high, raising considerable concern about conserving Passiflora diversity.
The IPGRI Americas Group started research on Passiflora in 1994, by collecting information on the genus as very little was available even for yellow maracuja, its most important fruit. Priority was initially given to major Andean species but studies included taxonomy (the genus includes over 450 species distributed in 22 subgenera), reproductive biology, geographic distribution, morphological characterization, agronomic evaluation, molecular characterization and germplasm conservation.
An old banana passion fruit cultigen was recognized as a new species, Passiflora tarminiana, allowing breeders a better focus of their work with this robust species and the Hawaiian ecologists a better understanding of the origin of an invasive exotic weed of their national parks. The study of interspecific relations allowed to identify the best potential resistance gene donors among the banana passion fruit wild relatives. Germplasm collected in the Andes of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia is being conserved in field gene banks. Medium and long term conservation problems were solved by developing simple low-cost seed cryopreservation techniques.
These results have laid the ground for a better exploitation of Passiflora genetic resources. The fruit industry has shown interest in launching breeding programs to provide small growers with more pest-tolerant cultivars that reduce production costs and give better fruits for both the fresh fruit market and the processing plants.
