To study the performance of different types of propagation materials of banana `Nanicão' (Musa sp. ) on the productivity of the first year, five propagation materials were used: small sword suckers, big sword suckers, water suckers, rhizome sections and meristem derived material (tissue culture). The parameters studied were weight of bunch, number of hands per bunch, number of fruits per bunch and number of days from planting to harvest (first cicle). Both sizes of sword suckers gave the best average performance (shortest length of the first vegetative cycle, good average weight of bunch, good number of hands and number of fruits per bunch). Rhizome sections showed similar results but took a longer time to produce the first harvest. Meristem derived material showed the worst performance with lowest average weight of bunch, longest lenght of the first vegetative cycle and high somaclonal variation rate.
propagation; tissue culture; somaclonal variation; banana