Alar City in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has succeeded in cultivating passion fruit in an open field for the first time. Up until now, it mainly used greenhouses to cultivate these tropical fruits.
Liu Rong, an employee of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, began introducing passion fruit cultivation to Aral Shehri after being inspired by the significant profits earned from cultivating passion fruits in southwest China's Guizhou Province. Liu adopted agricultural practices including drip irrigation under a film, organic cultivation, outdoor trellising, and fruiting on trellises. After three months of effort, the fruits weighed around 60 to 90 grams each. They will ripen by mid-August this year.
"The fruits harvested in August have a sweet and tangy taste with high sugar content. Those harvested in September and October are suitable for jam processing, which currently commands a market price of 16,000 to 18,000 yuan ($2240 -2520) per metric ton. The vines can be used to feed cattle and sheep," said Liu.
Source: ecns.cn