Gas exchange and fruit yield of yellow passionfruit genotypes irrigated with different rates of ETo replacement

Abstract

Water is a limiting factor in agricultural activity and its deficiency in the soil affects the physiological processes of the plant and later interferes in the production of the culture. Aiming to evaluate the influence of different rates of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) replacement, over the leaf gas exchange and yield of hybrid yellow passionfruit plants, this experiment was carried out from August/2009 to September/2010, in an area of the semiarid region of the state of Paraiba, Brazil. The treatments consisted of the combination of four levels of irrigation (33, 66, 100 and 133% of ETo replacement) and two hybrid yellow passion fruit species ('BRS Sol do Cerrado' and 'BRS Gigante Amarelo'), in an experimental randomized block design, with five replications. The following variables were evaluated: gas exchange - stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration (T), net photosynthesis (A), instantaneous water use efficiency (IWUE), internal carbon concentration (Ci) and instantaneous carboxylation efficiency (A/Ci); fruit weight (distributed into three classes: 'A', 'B' and 'C', per plant) and also, the total production per plant. The gas exchange rates were higher in the 'BRS Sol do Cerrado' hybrid, in which a higher production was registered when irrigated with 133% of the ETo. The 'BRS Gigante Amarelo' genotype is most indicated to grow under low water availability.