DEVELOPMENT AND RIPENING OF YELLOW PASSION-FRUIT

Yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis f, flavicarpa Deg.) showed a single sigmoid curve of fruit growth and reached maximum size 21 d after flowering. Fruit fresh and dry weight increased until 50 and 70 d after flowering, respectively. Growth in the first 21 d was due mainly to rind growth, and subsequent growth was due primarily to growth of pulp (arils and seeds). Accumulation of soluble solids and acids peaked 63 d after flowering, followed by a decline of the former, coinciding with the initiation of the climacteric rise of respiration and ethylene production. Ethephon applied to harvested fruit 40, 50, 60 and 70 d old advanced the initiation of the climacteric compared with untreated fruit. Since detached 40 d old fruit did not ripen without ethephon treatment, physiological maturity of yellow passion fruit is reached some time after 40 d.