The passion fruit plant is among the leading fruit grown in the country, but it has limitations on the cultivation causing a low productivity, which can be overcome through the use of cutting, cloning the best matrices of high productivity. Thus, the objective of this research was to evaluate the potential for rooting of cuttings in the winter and in the summer, using the commercial species (P. edulis Sims f. flavicarpa Degener and P. alata Dryander) and rootstocks (P. giberti N. E. Brown, P. nitida H.B.K. and P. setacea D.C.). This experiment was carried out from July 2001 to March 2002 in intermittent mist, under screenhouse conditions (50% of shading). The cuttings were collected from adult plants from the Bank of Active Germplasm (BAG) of the Department of Plant Production of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences of the Universidade Estadual Paulista, Jaboticabal-SP (FCAV / UNESP) and from commercial orchards on July 2001 and January 2002. The herbaceous cuttings were prepared with the intermediate part of branches collected in the growth stage in the winter and in the summer. The cuttings were approximately 15cm long, with three nodes and two half leaves. The cuttings were treated with indolebutyric acid (IBA) at concentrations of 0, 500, 1000 and 2000mg.L-1, for five seconds and planted in plastic trays (40x30x10cm) with vermiculite of medium texture, where they remained for 60 days. There was influence both from IBA and the season on the rooting, varying according to the species. Therefore, P. giberti obtained the best performance in relation to other species, with 73% of rooting in the summer, while the percentage of rooting was best for the P. alata (58%) and for the P. nitida (40%) in the winter and without IBA. P. edulis f. flavicarpa rooted only 23% in the winter, and P. setacea did not root. Number and length of roots were higher in the winter. The survival of plants did not differ significantly among treatments.
IBA; P. edulis; P. alata; P. nitida; P. giberti; P. setacea
