Thermal amplitude of the air influences the emergence and vigor of seedlings of sour passion fruit

The sour passion fruit is an allogamous species which presents high genetic variability. It is being propagated commercially via seeds. The propagation of species through seeds can be affected by several factors such as the thermal amplitude throughout the day during the germination and the genetic characteristics of the individual. The objective of this study was to evaluate the germination and vigor of seedlings of genotypes of sour passion fruit under different thermal amplitudes of the air. The experiment was conducted in a germination chamber. The factorial scheme was 5 × 3, referring to the five thermal amplitudes of the air (25.0; 22.5-27.5; 20.0-30.0; 17.5-32.5 and 15.0-35.0 ° C) and three genotypes of sour passion fruit (BRS SC1, BRS GA1 and FB-200) in a completely randomized design with six replicates of 25 seeds per plot. The variables analyzed were percentage of velocity index, mean time of emergence, total length, shoot and root and dry mass of seedlings. The thermal amplitude close to 20.0-30.0 °C favored the emergence and vigor of sour passion fruit genotypes. The germination process and the biometric growth of the passion fruit seedlings are adversely affected in high thermal air amplitudes