Morphological characterization of new banana clones-elites/Caracterizacao morfologica de novos clones-elites de bananeira

The characterization of clones is a very important step in genetic certification programs, as it describes and recognizes the plant material at every stage of production, allowing the monitoring of genetic quality, improvement and conservation of the germplasm. The aim of this work was to morphologically characterize two elite banana clones. The experimental design applied was in randomized blocks, with four replications, with six plants per parcel. The treatments consisted of two elite banana clones, Prata Gorutuba R1 and Prata Gorutuba R2 and four commercial cultivars: Prata Gorutuba, Prata Ana, Grande Naine and BRS Princesa. The morphological characterization was carried out in the second production cycle (daughter plant), using 23 qualitative descriptors, visually evaluated, classified according to the instructions for carrying out the distinguishability, homogeneity and stability (DHS) tests of banana cultivars. The elite clones Prata Gorutuba R1 and R2 differed from the cultivars Grande Naine and BRS Princesa regarding the descriptors tapering of the pseudostem, predominant color of the pseudostem, intensity of anthocyanin coloration and color of the underside of the basal sheath. The descriptors made it possible to group elite clones into the Prata group, a group that predominates in crops in Brazil, with characteristics already widely accepted by the market. Terms for indexing: Musa spp.; 'Prata Gorutuba'; 'Prata-Ana'; Cultivars registration. A caracterizacao dos clones e uma etapa de suma importancia em programas de certificacao genetica, pois descreve e reconhece o material vegetal em toda etapa de producao, permitindo o monitoramento da qualidade genetica, o melhoramento e a conservacao do germoplasma. Objetivou-se com este trabalho caracterizar, morfologicamente, dois clones-elites de bananeira. O delineamento utilizado foi em blocos ao acaso, com quatro repeticoes, sendo seis plantas uteis. Os tratamentos foram compostos por dois clones-elites de bananeira Prata Gorutuba R1 e Prata Gorutuba R2 e quatro cultivares comerciais: Prata Gorutuba, Prata-Ana, Grande Naine e BRS Princesa. A caracterizacao morfologica foi realizada no segundo ciclo de producao (planta-filha), utilizando 23 descritores qualitativos, avaliados visualmente, classificados de acordo com as instrucoes para execucao dos ensaios de distinguibilidade, homogeneidade e estabilidade (DHE) de cultivares de bananeira. Os clones-elites Prata Gorutuba R1 e R2 diferiram das cultivares G