The banana genotypes Nam, Caipira, Pioneira, Prata anã, Grande Naine, FHIA 01, FHIA 18, SH 36-44, and PV 03-44 were evaluated from 1997 to 1999. The objective was to identify the most productive and most adaptated genotype compared to the traditional Prata and Prata-Anã cultivars in the southern State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The experiment was established in the EPAMIG Experimental Station in Lavras-MG. Fifty plants of each genotype were planted in a 3,0 × 3,0 m plant spacing. The SH 36-40 hybrid presented the greater bunch medium weight (16.56 kg) and fruits (171 g/unit), diameter (4.21 cm) and length (17.64 cm) of the fruits. It is equivalent to a yield of 18.5 t/ha, which is about twice the yield of the Prata Anã, Pioneira, Caipira, and Nam, and thrice the yield of PV 03-44. SH 36-40 and FHIA 01 hybrids presented the greatest increases in bunches and fruits weight from one cycle to the next. Nam produced bunches with medium weight inferior to 9.0 kg, and the PV 03-44 hybrid produced 6.0 kg. The hybrid SH 36-40 showed plant hight of 2.75 m, crop cycle of 17.5 months, the smallest period from flowering to harvesting, inferior to 4,87 months, and smaller and later sprouting. The cultivars Caipira, Prata Anã, Pioneira, and Nam produced bunches with medium weight inferior to 9.0 kg and the PV 03-44 hybrid inferior to 6.0 kg. The Caipira was the tardiest cultivar, with 22.0 month of crop cycle, and the cultivars Pioneira and Prata Anã were the most precocious, 16.6 months, in the first cycle and 15.5 months in the second and third cycles.
Musa spp.; banana; yield; cultivar; crop cycle
