Nitrogen fertilization and spacing in productivity and quality of passion fruit implanted with advanced seedlings

Abstract

The use of advanced seedlings associated with the annual cultivation of passion fruit are important management techniques for living with the fruit-hardening virus (FEV). However, this technology still needs information on nitrogen fertilization and spacing between plants, so that it is possible to recover crop’s productivity. The objective of this research was to identify the nitrogen dose (N) and the most suitable spacing for annual orchards installed with advanced seedlings (1.2 m high) of yellow passion fruit. The experiment was carried out in the field, in Mogi Mirim, SP, between October 2017 and July 2018. A randomized block design was used in subdivided plots; the treatments were doses of N in coverage such as 0, 60, 120, 180 and 240 kg ha-1 and spacing between plants of 2.0 and 4.0 m and 3.0 m between lines. The dose found for maximum production, 15.4 kg of fruit pl-1, and adequate physical-chemical quality of the fruit for the yellow passion fruit was 130.7 kg ha-1 of N. The most densified spacing, of 2 x 3 m, provided greater productivity and number of thousand fruits per hectare, respectively, 20.7 t ha-1 and 139.5 thousand fruits ha-1.