The sweet passion fruit, Passiflora alata Curtis, is a fruit tree that has been gaining economic importance because their fruits can be consumed in natura due to its unique flavor. However, some technologic obstacles need to be overcome in order to allow plantation in large scale, such as the absence of cultivars producing fruits with high pulp output, mechanic resistance in its skin, and high levels of soluble solids. In this context, this work was carried out to estimate the inheritability (h²) and the genetic gain as expected selection response for the traits: weigh of the fruit, weight of the pulp, thickness of the skin, Brix degree and pulp output. To achieve the goals, it was used F1 progenies from 36 crosses involving six females and six males' half sib genotypes. The results showed a broad variation in the h² values across crosses and the predominance of the additive gene effects in the genetic control of the evaluated traits. Therefore, it its necessary to take into account the substantial effect of the cross factor in the h² estimative and the direct selection in the majority of the progenies because the additive gene effects are predominant in the majority of the studied traits.
Passiflora alata Curtis; Brazilian native fruit; genetic gain; plant breeding
