YIELD AND FRUIT QUALITATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF PASSION FRUIT HYBRIDS

The small number of improved genotypes of passion fruit contributes to the low productivity of this crop in Brazil. New genetic materials should be developed to increase yield and fruit quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the yield and the qualitative characteristics of 36 passion fruit hybrids grown in northern Parana. The evaluations were carried out during two production cycles, from April to June 2007 and from January to July 2008, by weekly harvests of ripe fruits. The yield was determined by total yield and number of fruits per plant. For the fruit quality the following characteristics were evaluated: weight, length, diameter and relationship between length and diameter of the fruits, skin thickness, pulp yield, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA) and ratio TSS/TA. Hybrid '36' presented fruits with desirable characteristics for the fresh market, while the hybrids '43' e '60' showed important features for the juice industry. Fruit yield, in kilograms of fruit per plant, stood between 20 and 40 in the first cycle and 54 to 96 in the second, which represents a yield of 30 to 53 ton ha(-1) for the two crop seasons together.