Performance of passion fruit seedlings associated with different dosages of the fungus Isaria fumorosea

Abstract

Passion fruit, Passiflora edulis, is a species native to South America, belonging to the Passifloraceae family, which is distributed across different tropical and subtropical climate regions. In this crop, seedling production is the first and one of the main stages of its cycle, since the initial development of the plants, as well as their final field performance, depends on it. In this context, the use of microorganisms has emerged as a viable alternative for producing high-quality seedlings, as they may provide direct and indirect benefits to plant growth. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the use of different doses of the fungus Isaria fumosorosea as an alternative in the production of passion fruit seedlings. The study was carried out at the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo and was arranged in a randomized block design (RBD), consisting of seven treatments, four blocks, and five plants per treatment, where each treatment corresponded to a specific dose of the product diluted in one liter of water. Initially, two passion fruit seeds were sown per tube, each filled with commercial substrate. After germination, thinning was performed followed by the application of the microorganism, and a second application was carried out fifteen days later. After 75 days of planting, variables such as plant height, root length, stem diameter, number of leaves, fresh and wet biomass, chlorophyll content, and the Dickson Quality Index were evaluated. The obtained data were subjected to the O’Neill-Mathews test at a 5% significance level. The results showed no significant differences among the analyzed variables, which may be associated with the evaluation period, environmental conditions, low interaction between the plant and the fungus, or competition among the organisms present. Therefore, it was concluded that the use of the fungus Isaria fumosorosea did not present significant results in the production of passion fruit seedlings, and further studies are recommended to obtain new findings.