Fourteen horticultural characteristics of five sweet passion fruit (Passiflora alata Curtis) populations were evaluated in Jaboticabal-SP, from April 2000 to March 2001. A considerably high variability among plants and low among populations was observed for these characters. The number of fruits per plant (NF), number of seeds/fruit (NS), fruit mass (MF) and production (PRO) were the characters with the highest levels of variability among plants, thus, allowing then for the selection of superior plants for these characters. Averages of production (PRO), number of fruits/plant (NF), rind thickness (EC), number of seeds/fruit (NS) and pulp yield (%P), compared by the Tukey test at 5% probability, did not present significant differences among the populations.
phenotipic variability; passion fruit; Passiflora alata
