Effect of hydric stress induced by PEG 6000 on water content of Musa spp. ‘Grande naine’ (AAA) and ‘Pelipita’ (ABB) in vitro plants

Bananas and bananas are grown in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, by hence they are adapted to good humidity conditions. The productivity of these crops is affected by abiotic factors such as drought, which has increased in recent years due to the effects of climate change. In vitro selection of tolerant genotypes offers advantages over field selection as it saves time, resources and permit to work with larger plant volumes. The aim of this work was to determine the effect of in vitro water stress induced with polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG 6000) on water content (WC) of Musa spp. ‘Grande naine’ (AAA) and ‘Pelipita’ (ABB) cultivars. In ‘Pelipita’ cultivar WC was not affected by PEG 6000 effect, but in ‘Grande naine’ this trait was significantly reduced in those plants under stress. Both, ‘Pelipita’ and ‘Grande naine’ cultivars differentially respond to water stress induced in vitro by PEG 6000 and could be used as reference in plants evaluation obtained by plant breeding for drought tolerance. Key words: banana, climate change, drought, in vitro selection