With the objective of evaluating development in vitro of explants of the banana trees 'Prata Anã' and 'FHIA 01' originated from adult plants treated with paclobutrazol (PBZ), this experiment was conducted at the Laboratory of Tissue and Cells Culture, Pomology Section, DFT/UFV. Factorial outline 2 x 5 was used, corresponding to the two cultivars ('Prata Anã' and 'FHIA 01') and five doses of PBZ (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 g i.a. plant-1), arranged in an entirely random design, with different number of replicates. It was evaluated on the aerial part: the rate of sprouting, height and diameter, number of leaves, fresh and dry mass and intensity of the green color; and root system: percentage of rooting, number of roots, length of the largest root, fresh and dry mass, and mass of the roots:mass of the aerial part relation. The height of the aerial part started to be reduced from the dose of 1.13 g i.a. plant-1 in both cultivars. The diameter was not altered with the increase of the doses, but in the explants of the 'Prata Anã' it was observed larger diameters compared to 'FHIA 01'. The number of leaves, the dry and fresh weight did not suffer alterations among the different doses, nor between cultivars. The intensity of the green color increased linearly with the increase of the dose in both cultivars. Starting from the dose 1.07 g i.a. plant-1 the rate of sprouting for 'Prata Anã' was inhibited, while there was an enhancement of the rate for 'FHIA 01' starting at dose of 0.85 g i.a. plant-1. There was significant interaction for the percentage of rooting, with lower values for the cultivar 'Prata Ana' (64.71%) compared to 'FHIA 01' (95.83%) for the higher dose. It was not observed effect of the doses of PBZ about the percentage of rooting of the explants of the cultivar 'Prata Anã', while for 'FHIA 01' there was linear increase with the dose elevation, with the largest rooting value of 95.18%. The other characteristics there was linear increase with the increment of PBZ doses, for both cultivars.
Musa spp.; vegetative propagation; growth regulator
