Associations among production and physicochemicalquality fruit traits in Passion fruit populations subjected to three cycles of intrapopulation recurrent selection

Abstract

The present study was developed to identify the direct and indirect effects of fruit production traits in passion fruit on traits of agronomic interest as well as determine possible changes in associations between the characters after three cycles of recurrent selection. Twenty three half-sibling progenies were evaluated for the characteristics number of fruits per plant; fruit mass per plant (g); pulp percentage (%); fruit length and diameter (mm); peel thickness (mm); total soluble solids content (ºBrix); pH; and yield per plant (kg). Fruit production per plant was considered the main variable, while the others were considered explanatory variables. Within-family heritability (h2ad) values were lower than the mean heritability of the progeny (h2mp). Path analysis revealed that the direct selection of genotypes with higher number of fruits or fruit average mass results in increased production per plant; however, indirect selection is inefficient in providing simultaneous gains. Therefore, by observing the correlations throughout selection cycles, it can be stated that although production per plant is the most important variable, preference should be given to the use of selection indices, as there are better chances of obtaining gains for fruit quality and production traits in selection across half-sibling passion fruit progenies.

Genetic parameters, correlation and repeatability of agronomic characters of yellow passion fruit genotypes in three harvest cycles

“…The evaluation of genotypes in breeding programs is time-consuming and costly, so reduction of the evaluation period without compromising accuracy of the information is extremely relevant (Neves et al 2010;Cavalcante et al 2017Cavalcante et al , 2018Mendes and Ramalho 2018). Passion fruit production is low in the first year, tends to increase in the second year and decreases again in the third year (Pimentel et al 2008).…”

“…Studying yellow passion fruit, Cavalcante et al (2017Cavalcante et al ( , 2018 used two production cycle periods, but only three traits related to fruit production and weight. However, there are no studies evaluating more characteristics with an estimate of genetic components, correlation and repeatability in association with different cycle of harvests.…”