Abstract:
The propagation of passion fruit in commercial orchards is carried out by seeds. However, passion fruit seed germination occurs irregularly. The goal of this study was to evaluate the emergence and development of passion fruit seedlings under different luminosities and sowing depths. The experimental design was completely randomized with six replications of 25 seeds, with a 3 x 5 factor scheme, in which three light conditions (absence of light, presence of 12 h light and 12 h dark and the presence of light for 24 h) were combined with five sowing depths (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 cm). The emergence test was conducted in a BOD-type germination chamber, with alternating temperatures of 20-30 °C, at intervals of 12 h and the established luminosities. The evaluated characteristics were the emergence percentage for weekly counts, the emergence speed index for 28 days; the total shoot and root length on evaluation day 28 and the individual dry weight. The lack of luminosity accelerates the emergence of passion fruit seedlings, but it produces low quality seedlings. However, the alternation of luminosity associated to a lower sowing depth helps both the emergence and the quality of seedlings produced from passion fruit 14 days after sowing.
Index terms:
Passiflora edulis Sims; emergence test; light