Yield and Physical Quality of the Yellow Passion Fruit under Spacing within Plants and Water Salinity

Aims: The aim of this work was to evaluate the yield and the physical quality of the yellow passion fruit accession ‘Guinezinho’ as a function of the within-row plant spacing, with saline irrigation water in consecutive growing seasons.

Study Design: The experiment was arranged in randomized blocks, with four replicates and 12 plants per parcel, in a 4 x 2 factorial arrangement, referring to the spacing in the planting lines of 3, 6, 9 and 12 m, and two consecutive growing seasons.

Place and Duration of Study: The experiment was developed in the municipality of Coronel Ezequiel, Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil, within the months of April 2013 and October 2014.

Methodology: The seedings were transplanted in the spacings of 3, 6, 9 and 12 m, and distant 2 m within lines according to the treatments; they were conducted in a vertical shoot position (VSP) training system, and daily irrigated during the arid period with saline water (ECiw = 3.4 dS m-1). The following characteristics were evaluated: fruit yield, fruit mass, longitudinal and transversal fruit diameter, pulp yield, peel mass and peel thickness.

Results: The interaction between spacing and growing season exercised a significant effect on the fruit yield, longitudinal fruit diameter, pulp yield, thickness and mass of the peel (P = .05). The variables transversal diameter and fruit mass only varied within the growing seasons (P = .05). The plants cultivated in the 3 m spacing were the most productive in the two seasons, with 23.7 and 36.3 t ha-1, in the first and second seasons, respectively.

Conclusion: The highest yield of the yellow passion fruit accession ‘Guinezinho’ was obtained in the smaller plant spacing in the lines. Except for the pulp yield, the yield and physical quality of the fruits were superior in the second growing season. The irrigation with highly saline water, in this type of soil, did not compromise the productive ability of the passion fruit accession ‘Guinezinho’.