Abstract

RENDON, Juan Sebastián; OCAMPO, John  and  URREA, Ramiro. Study of pollination and floral biology of Passiflora edulis f. edulis Sims as a basis for pre-breeding. Acta Agron. [online]. 2013, vol.62, n.3, pp.232-241. ISSN 0120-2812.

The purple passion fruit is the second economically most important species of the genus Passiflora L. as it is marketed as fresh and processed fruit in all continents. The objective of this research was to study the mechanism of natural and assisted pollination to understand gulupa reproductive system that enables the implementation of pre-breeding and conservation strategies. A total of 32 accessions from 10 Colombian departments under five pollination treatments (natural and assisted) were evaluated in Manizales, Caldas at 2,340 m.a.s.l. Results show that 80% of the anthesis in purple passion fruit occurred between 6:00 and 8:00 hours, prevailing flowers with fully curved style (66.4%). The highest percentage of fruit formation was found in manual self-pollination and geitonogamy treatments (82 and 86%), and followed by cross-pollination (68%) with significant differences (Duncan, P<0.05). High precipitation during the anthesis phase (>9 mm/day) generated a negative impact on pollination and on the activity of pollination agents. Fruit from manually and natural pollinated flowers showed an average of 151 to 157 seeds with no significant differences. The results show that the purple passion fruit is an autofertile species that depends on pollinator insects for genetic flow and productivity. The capacity of autocompatibility of the purple passion fruit (28 to 86%) permits producers conserve the genetic quality of elite plants or their use in genetic breeding programs to obtain greater cultivar robusticity and productivity.

Keywords : Fruit production; Passiflora; pollination; purple passionfruit; self-compatibility.

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