Effects of cultivar and paclobutrazol application on growth, flowering, and fruit set of passion fruit as edible potted plants

Abstract

Passion fruit is an economically significant fruit in Thailand. The advantages of this fruit crop extend beyond its consumption, and it can also serve as an ornamental plant. This experiment aimed to investigate the growth of passion fruit in various cultivars after paclobutrazol treatments to produce edible potted plants. A 4x3 factorial arrangement completely randomized design (CRD) was conducted. The study incorporated four passion fruit cultivars, i.e., Jinxin, Tainong No. 1, Xiaosanjiao, and Native Passion Fruit, as factor A. The factor denoted as B in the study represents different concentrations of paclobutrazol, respectively 0 (control), 150, and 300 mg L^-1. At 1, 3, and 5 months after paclobutrazol treatment, the results showed that the vine and internode length, and internode number decreased significantly. However, paclobutrazol treatment did not affect the leaf greenness index. The statistical significance of the flowering rate response to paclobutrazol was observed solely with the cultivar factor. However, the native passion fruit exhibited a complete lack of flowering. The Jinxin cultivar exhibited fruiting capabilities following a two-month treatment period. The plants treated with 300 mg L^-1 of paclobutrazol had clustered internode formation in the apical area. In conclusion, the Jinxin cultivar treated with 150 mg L^-1 of paclobutrazol was a suitable approach to produce edible passion fruit potted plants.