This study had the objective of evaluating the genetic divergence among passion fruit (Passiflora cincinnata Mast.) accessions maintained in the collection of Embrapa Tropical Semi-Arid, Petrolina-PE, Brazil. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Thirty-two accessions were evaluated considering thirty-three characters: two related to the plant, three to the leaves, six to the flowers, four to the fruits, four to the seeds, two to the chemical characteristics of fruits and two to the yield. The behaviour of accessions was evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses, with dissimilarities obtained by the generalized distance of Mahalanobis (D²) and the grouping technique by the Tocher method. The accessions showed genetic variability for all the evaluated descriptors. The genetic distances between pairs of accessions ranged from 17 to 598, with an average of 152. The accessions indicated as the most divergent should be included in intercross programs and recommended to experimental growing at farm level. The characteristics which most contributed to genetic divergence were total fruit yield (42.29%), pollen viability (8.62%) and leaf area (7.16%). The accessions grouping was not correlated to the original Geo-Environmental Units.
variability; morphology; multivariate analysis; passion fruit; germplasm
