Characterization of recommended banana cultivars using morphological and molecular descriptors

Abstract

New banana varieties with superior agronomical characteristics have been developed through introductionand/or genetic breeding. In order to guarantee its marketing and intellectual property, these new varieties need to becharacterized by efficient inheritable qualitative morphological and molecular descriptors. The aim of the research was tocharacterize recommended banana varieties using qualitative morphological and molecular descriptors. Twelve genotypeswere analyzed using 61 morphological descriptors where 17 were related to the plant, 24 to the bunch and 20 regarding theflower. Eighty-one molecular markers; 47 RAPD primers and 34 SSR primers were used. The morphological and moleculardescriptors were efficient in the characterization and identification of specific characteristics for most of the varieties evaluated.Plant and inflorescence descriptors presented the greatest variability of characteristics that can facilitate its use for cultivarprotection and registration

Keywords

• Banana breeding
• variety release
• characterization
• cultivar protection.