Genetic Compatibility Study With Various Pollination Methods On Three Types Of Lowland Passion Fruit (Passiflora edulis)

This research aimed to study the genetic compatibility of three lowland passion fruit genotypes and to see the effect of various types of pollination on passion fruit characteristics. The research was conducted at the Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Andalas University, Padang, with an altitude of 168 m above sea level. The study was designed with a factorial complete randomised design (CRD) consisting of two factors. The first factor was the passion fruit type, which consisted of three levels, namely red and yellow passion fruit from Passiflora edulis f. edulis and yellow passion fruit from Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa. The second factor is the type of pollination, which consists of four levels: artificial self-pollination, natural self-pollination, artificial cross-pollination, and natural cross-pollination. Each treatment combination was repeated three times, consisting of one pollination from three different trees. Results showed that the three types of lowland passion fruit have self-incompatibility, which resulted in the inhibition of the fruit formation process of natural and artificial self-pollination. At the same time, the results of natural and artificial cross-pollination showed high compatibility with fruit sets, each reaching 100%. Passion fruit type and pollination type showed no significant interaction on morphological characteristics and fruit flavour. However, passion fruit type had a significant effect on fruit characteristics and flavour. The yellow passion fruit type of Passiflora edulis f. edulis was superior to the red passion fruit type of Passiflora edulis f. edulis and the yellow passion fruit type of Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa.