This study describes aspects of floral biology and the reproductive system of Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa (Passifloraceae), including foraging patterns of the floral visitors in the region of São Francisco Valley. The study was carried out in irrigated orchards in the Maniçoba Project, in Juazeiro-BA, during 2005 and 2006. The floral anthesis occurred between midday and 1 pm. Flower closing started at 6 pm and finished around 1 am. The time for style deflexion was 71,4 ± 12,4 min, about 5% of the flowers remained with the style undefexed. The stigmas were receptive during the entire anthesis and the pollen grains presented 94% viability. The nectar volume was in average 100 µL, with 48% of sugar concentration . The average number of pollen grains/flower was 140,595 ± 34,175 and 426 ± 77 of ovules/ovary. The highest rates were obtained after manual crossed pollination (74%), confirming the existence of a system of self-incompatibility. We registered 10% of flowers with four stigmas, which when manually pollinated, produced bigger fruits with a higher number of seeds (477,7 ± 76,8). We found a positive correlation between the number of seeds and the weight of the fruits. The flower visitors were Apis mellifera, Trigona spinipes, Xylocopa grisescens, X. frontalis and X. cearensis. A. mellifera and T. spinipes being pollen and nectar robbers, respectively. Bees of the genus Xylocopa were more frequent during the dry season and A. mellifera during the wet season. The effective pollinators were X. grisescens and X. frontalis. We found that they were limited in number in the studied areas. However they were found to be more frequent in other plant species during the rainy season which indicates that these plant species compete with the passion fruit for pollination service.
Xylocopa frontalis; Xylocopa grisescens; breeding success; pollination service; Semi-Arid
