The relationships between the physical and chemical components of sweet passion fruits produced in Viçosa, MG, were evaluated. One hundred fruits were harvested in the final stage of ripening, when the pericarp showed strong straw-yellow color. The fruits were analyzed for their physical and chemical characteristics and the data were analyzed by Pearson correlation. There was great variation among the values of each feature, especially for fresh weight and volume of the fruit and the fresh weight of the pericarp, which showed average values of 194.53 ± 42.19 g, 253.85 ± 49.73 cm3 and 143.30 ± 40.50 g, respectively. The number of seeds ranged from 110 to 379 per fruit, and there were significant correlations among most traits. The diameter was positively correlated with the fresh weight of the pulp and negatively with the percentage of pulp, indicating that large fruits have proportionally less pulp than smaller ones. The dry weight of the seeds was positively correlated with the fresh weight of the pulp (0.6248 **) and the percentage of pulp (0.4375 **). Similarly, the number of seeds was positively correlated with fresh weight of the pulp (0.5119 **) and the percentage of pulp (0.3957 **), indicating that fruits with more seeds have a higher pulp yield. However, there was a negative correlation between seed number and total soluble solids (-0.2161 *), suggesting the dilution of the juice due to the greater number of seeds and the increase in the proportion of pulp. There was also a negative correlation between the thickness and the fresh weight of the pericarp and pulp percentage, indicating that the thicker shell decreases the diameter of the inner cavity of the fruit, which accumulates the edible pulp.
Passiflora alata Curtis; composition of fruit; pulp yield
