Abstract
Cryopreservation is an interesting strategy for the long-term conservation of the seeds of the majority of cultivated plants as well as many of the corresponding wild parents. The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of the seeds of different passion fruit species to cryopreservation, as well as to apply multivariate tools to better understand the germinative behavior after thawing, to support the application and repeatability of these methods with other Passiflora species. Seeds of P. coccinea, P. edulis, P. gibertii, P. maliformis, P. morifolia, P. setacea, P. suberosa and P. tenuifila were submitted to cryopreservation, and after thawing the following variables were analyzed: emergence percentage (%); mean emergence time (days); mean emergence speed (plantlets.day(-1)); uncertainty (bit); and synchrony (bit). We applied multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) to the data. The seeds of all the species withstood the freezing well, indicating that cryopreservation is a viable alternative for long-term conservation of Passiflora genetic material. The emergence percentage, average emergence speed and average emergence time were the variables that contributed the most to separation of the species in the first canonical discriminant function (Can1). The seeds of the species studied were found to be tolerant to desiccation because they remained viable even with low water content. The results showed that seeds could be cryopreserved successfully both with and without prior desiccation.