With Florida in peak passion fruit season, researchers are eyeing the sweet tropical fruit as a cash crop. At $3 per piece of fruit at some supermarkets, farmers are able to get $5 per pound for their harvest, according to Ali Sarkhosh, associate professor at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) horticultural sciences department. This price shows a high demand for passion fruit.

But the passion fruit industry faces big challenges – ones Sarkhosh and his team hope to fix. Passion fruit struggles in Central Florida due to cold winters and in South Florida due to disease.

Sarkhosh and his team are working on developing methods to improve passion fruit cultivation, which are expected to enhance both the yield and quality of passion fruit across the state, providing substantial benefits to Florida’s agriculture industry.

“There is a huge potential for passion fruit in the U.S., and I think Florida can be the best place to produce passion fruit all around the year and develop an industry,” he said.

Researchers are focused on creating new cultivars and trying new growing conditions, such as creating a tunnel system to protect passion fruit from the cold in Central Florida. They discovered by covering the trees with a dome-like tarp and misting them with water a few hours before a frost will keep the fruit from freezing. He said this system has allowed his team to harvest year-round, rather than two harvests a year, which is normal for passion fruit growers.

Researchers at UF are also working on developing a cold-hardy cultivar and are hoping to develop disease-resistant cultivars of passion fruit. These varieties would be bred to resist common diseases like fusarium, which causes canker and stem rot, and fungal diseases that attack the root, stem, leaf and fruit. All of this means healthier plants and more abundant harvests, he said.

These advancements are expected to offer local farmers a competitive edge in the agriculture market and an overall positive economic impact on the state, Sarkhosh said.

To share exciting research updates, UF/IFAS will host a Passion Fruit Field Day on Aug. 1 at the UF/IFAS Plant Science Research and Education Unit in Citra. The event will feature presentations from leading researchers and field tours. The field day will offer an opportunity for growers, industry professionals, media professionals and the public to learn more about passion fruit cultivation and research.

Sarkhosh’s research is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture with a Sustainability Research and Education grant for a three-year project.