Charcoal Application and VAM Inoculation Promote Vine Growth, Yield and Quality of Passion Fruits in Kenya

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in 1996/1997 to investigate the effect of charcoal (CH) and vesicular-arbuscular mycorhiza (VAM) inoculation on vine growth, fruit development and quality of passion fruits grown in the field. Plants grown in soils that are low (< 30 ppm) in P content, benefited from root colonisation by VAM. Inoculation of passion fruit cuttings raised in sterilised media inoculated with VAM fungi significantly increased vine growth, yield and quality of fruit. Inoculation with VAM fungi resulted to 100% survival of passion fruit transplants