DISEASES AND PESTS OF PASSION FRUIT IN KENYA

Kenya is one of the leading producers of passion fruit. The establishment and expansion of the crop has been hindered by various problems, the major one being disease attack. The most important diseases of passion fruit in Kenya are brown spot caused by the fungus Alternaria passiflorae Simmonds and the woodiness virus. In the past insect pests were not considered to cause significant losses on the crop; however, recent observations indicate that the passion fruit plant is subject to attack by a wide host range of insect pests. The extent to which these insect pests cause losses is still to be investigated.