The productivity in banana is a complex character that results from the combination of different factors, influenced by environment. This work aimed to study the direct and indirect effects of vegetative traits on production in three cycles in banana. The work was conducted in the Experimental Field of Embrapa Acre in Rio Branco, Acre, among years 2003 and 2006. Thirteen genotypes of banana (Preciosa, Japira, Pacovan Ken, Pacovan, BRS Platina, Prata Anã, ST12-31, Nanicão, Grande Naine, Calypso, Ambrosia, Bucaneiro and FHIA 02) were evaluated, spaced 3 m x 2 m, in the randomized blocks with five replicates. The evaluated traits were: plant height, diameter of pseudostem, number of leaves at flowering and harvest, weight of bunch and number of hands in the bunch. Analysis of variance and path analysis were carried out for each cycle and phenotypic correlation coefficients were estimated. The trait weight of the bunch was adopted as the basic variable and the others were considered the explanatory variables. The study of direct and indirect effects showed that the character output is much influenced by the environment in the first cycle, and the following production cycle is much influenced by vegetative traits, especially number of leaves at harvest.
Musa spp.; breeding; path-analysis
