Agronomic Performance of Passion Fruit Genotypes in the Federal District, Brazil

Brazil stands out as the largest producer and consumer of passion fruit in the world. However, this fruit specie still faces some production problems such as lack of genetic materials with high yield, disease resistance and fruit quality, due mainly to the lack of research work in the breeding area. In order to contribute to the development of new passion fruit cultivars, this study aimed to evaluate the agronomic performance of passion fruit genotypes in the Federal District, Brazil, as well as to estimate genetic parameters for use in breeding programs. The experiment was carried out with 48 genotypes, in a simple layout (arrangement) of randomized block, with four replications and six plants per plot. The following characteristics were evaluated during fifty-four crops- fruit yield (kg/ha), number of fruit per hectare, average fruit weight (g) and sorting fruit on the equatorial diameter (mm) in five categories (1st, 1B, 1A, 2A and 3A). Higher fruit yields and number were observed in the genotypes MAR 20 # 41, MAR 20#41 pl 1, Gigante Amarelo pl 1 and MAR 20 # 39. Consdering fruits of 1st, genotype MAR 20 # 39 pl 2 produced the highest number of fruits per hectare. High values of heritability and CVg/Cve ratio were observed for total number of fruits per hectare in the first classification.