Abstract

In regions where rainfall is limited and irregular, irrigation technique is important for optimizing fruit plants production and profitability, such as yellow passion fruit. Therefore, this study investigates the economic viability of irrigations depth applied on passion fruit cultivation in the semiarid region of Paraíba State. The treatments were arranged on a factorial scheme that comprises four levels of ETo replacement (33, 66, 100 and 133%) and two yellow passion fruit hybrids (BRS Sol do Cerrado and BRS Gigante Amarelo), in a randomized block design, with five replications. Effective operational cost, administrative cost, total water cost, total production cost, gross income, net income, benefit/cost relation, balance of price and profitability index were evaluated. The best economic results were achieved with ‘BRS Sol do Cerrado’ hybrid under irrigation with 133% of ETo.

Key words: Passiflora edulis, hybrids, economic viability, drip irrigation.