Genotypic differences in the growth and mineral uptake of passion fruit vines and roots under different soil environments

• Purple passion fruit grew best in acidic soils; yellow passion fruit did in pH ≈8. • Hybrid cultivars exhibited varying soil preferences depending on the genotypes. • Both in alkaline and extremely acidic soil conditions, leaf Mg deficiency occurred. • In higher pH, leaf chlorosis increased with leaf Mn reduction and Fe excess. • Root vigor and leaf Mg uptake reflected genotypic soil preference in passion fruit. The preferable soil pH for purple passion fruit ( Passiflora edulis ), yellow passion fruit ( P. edulis f. flavicarpa ), and their hybrids, has been reported to range 4–8, but the optimal pH remains unclear. In this study to evaluate and compare the vine and root growth among the parent species and hybrids, we cultivated cutting-propagated young plants of one purple passion fruit (PK), one yellow passion fruit (MQ), and three hybrid cultivars (RS, SQ, and SS) in 4 different pH (4–8) soils using acidic (pH ≈5) and calcareous (pH ≈8) soils. Then, rhizosphere pH trends were monitored, and dry matter production, photosynthetic rate, and mineral content were recorded after 11 weeks. PK showed a preference for acidic soil and grew vigorously only in pH ≈5, but exhibited severe chlorosis and growth inhibition at pH ≥ 6. MQ showed broad tolerance to soil pH, maintaining high root dry matter production, photosynthetic rates, root and leaf mineral content even in calcareous soils. Among hybrids, RS showed a soil preference similar to PK and highest tolerance to extremely acidic conditions (pH ≈4), but was susceptible at higher pH; SQ showed high-pH tolerance similar to MQ; SS was intermediate. In acidic soils, elevated exchangeable Al coincided with reduced Mg content, except for RS. Whereas, chlorosis emerged as a critical limitation under high pH, causing reduced leaf photosynthesis. Our results demonstrated RS as the most tolerant hybrid cultivar for growing in extremely acidic soils, while SQ as a feasible one like yellow passion fruit in calcareous alkaline soils.