GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF BANANA GENOTYPES IN RORAIMA, BRAZIL

Abstract

Despite the great number of varieties of banana in Brazil, when aspects such as consumer preference, productivity, tolerance to diseases, and resistance to droughts are considered, only few of them present possibilities to be commercially used. Thus, the objective of the present work was to evaluate the growth and development of the Pacovan, ST 1231, Bucanner, FHIA 2, Graine Naine, Nanicao, Ambrosia, Prata Ana, PV 4214, PV 4285, 4268 PV and Calipso banana genotypes in Roraima, Brazil. The trial was carried out in a randomized block design, with 12 treatments and 3 replications. The parameters evaluated were: height of the plant (m); the perimeter of stem (cm); number of suckers emitted until the blossoming; number of leaves alive in the budding; date of emission of 1 st cluster; date of emission of 2 nd cluster; and date of harvest. 'Nanicao' (2.12-2.64 m) and 'Prata Ana' (2.39-2.65 m) presented the lowest size. The number of emitted suckers was between 2.28 (hybrid ST 1231) and 3.61 (Nanicao and Ambrosia). The leaf number in the bloom presented two groups where 'Fhia 2' presented the lowest number of leaves (14.06) and 'Bucanner' the highest, with 23.82 leaves. All the indicators of the length of production cycle had presented influence of the genotypes and the average length of the banana cycle for the first harvest varied from 278 to 292 days. The emitting period of the first cluster was precocious in the Prata Ana (103-130 days).