AGRONOMIC AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF DIPLOID IMPROVED BANANA GENOTYPES

An investigation about the genetical diversity among eleven banana diploid genotypes using nine agronomical characteristics and sixteen microsatellite markers was implanted at Embrapa Cassava and Tropical Fruits. Cruz das Almas (BA), Brazil. The generalized distance of Mahalanobis indicated the presence of genetic diversity. The genotypes were grouped into tree clusters. Among the investigated characteristics, the plant height, number of bunch's, number of fruits per bunch and pseudostem exhibited high contribution towards genetic divergence. The average number of alleles per primer was 7.51, with a total of 120 alleles identified. The average similarity among the all diploid was 0.44, range from 0.29 up to 0.60. New parental combinations can be identified with base of the divergence between these diploids, contributing for development of new improved diploids preventing the narrow genetic base and creating new genetic variability for selection.31115416