With the objective of evaluating the inoculation effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus on the development of good-quality banana seedlings, cv. Nanicão, under a low-input system, a greenhouse experiment was done at Seropédica, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the National Center of Agrobiology Research, in 1998. The experimental design was a randomized block, with four repetitions. The treatments consisted of growing micropropagated seedlings in three substrata with 0, 10 and 20% of organic matter, in the presence or absence of the fungus Glomus clarum. The results showed a significant positive effect of the inoculation on seedling height and number of leaves, 65 days after acclimatization. At 93 days, this positive effect was shown also by the pseudostem diameter. After harvest, the seedlings inoculated with G. clarum showed a significant increase in leaf, pseudostem and root dry matter, as well as total phosphorus content and radicular ratio efficiency in comparison to non-inoculated seedlings. As a rule, the addition of organic matter to the substratum led to an increase in the development of banana seedlings, cv. Nanicão, even in the absence of G. clarum.
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; micropropagation; Glomus clarum; Musa spp
