Production viability of passion fruit at high planting density in Jequitinhonha valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

Passion fruit has faced many problems in productivity, supply, prices and quality of the fruit as a result of the inadequate management of the orchards and the low application of existing technology. Increased planting density may promote an increase in productivity and thus provide better income to the producer. In this sense, this experiment was performed to study the increase of planting density on productivity and on the quality of yellow passion fruit in Jequitinhonha Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The evaluated spacings between plants were 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0 m. The spacing between the rows was three meters, which corresponded to 1,667, 1,111, 833, 667 and 556 plants ha^-1, respectively. Production per plant, productivity, juice yield per hectare, transverse and longitudinal diameter, peel thickness, soluble solids, titratable acidity, and the soluble solids /titratable acidity ratio of fruits were evaluated. Increasing the planting density to 1,667 plants per hectare promoted greater productivity. The densification did not affect the quality of the fruits.