PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY OF FRUIT IN YELLOW PASSION FRUIT TREE SUBMITTED TO PRUNING OF PRODUCTIVE BRANCHES

The determination of the initial structure to be given to the plant is decisive for cultural and fitosanitary management, presenting also effects on productivity and quality of harvested fruits. The present work aimed to establish the appropriate number of productive branches (tertiary) and to know this effect on production, productivity and quality of the yellow passion fruit (Pass flora edulis Sims f. flavicarpa Deg.). The experiment was carried out in a commercial orchard located in Lavras county, Minas Gerais, Brazil (21 degrees 14 ' S.; 45 degrees 58 'WGr.; 916 m of altitude), from September of 2005 to July of 2006, using seedlings which were planted in 4 x 3m spacing, plants and lines respectively, led in vertical cordon with a wire thread at 180 cm high. The treatments consisted of number of productive branches, being 40, 30, 24, 20 and 14 branches per plant. The experimental design used was randomized blocks, with four repetitions, with three plants for split. It was evaluated the productivity and juice yield (t/ha), number of fruits/plant, medium weight of the fruits, longitudinal and traversal diameter of the fruits (mm), thickness of the peel (mm). There was significant statistics difference for number of fruits/plant, productivity, juice yield and medium weight of the fruits. The plants within smaller number of tertiary branches presented reduced productivity and number of fruits/plant and also increasing of medium weight of fruits, without however, modify the fruit internal characteristics.