Iniciación y multiplicación in vitro de tres variedades de Musa spp. Cvs.: ‘Cambur manzano’, ‘Topocho criollo’ y ‘Gran enano’ in vitro | Initiation and propagation of three cultivars of Musa spp. Cvs.: ‘Apple banana’, ‘Bluggoe banana’ and ‘Grand nain’

Among the most common Musaceae in Venezuela are the plantain ‘Giant Harton’ (Musa AAB), banana (Musa AAA) subgroup ‘Cavendish’, ‘Cambur Manzano’ (‘Apple Banana’) (Musa AAB) and ‘Topocho Criollo’ (‘Bluggoe Banana’) (Musa ABB). The objective of this study was to generate plantlets of ‘Cambur Manzano’, ‘Topocho Criollo’ and ‘Grand Nain’ (Cavendish subgroup), fruits of economic importance in Venezuela. Micropropagation was conducted in two phases: initiation and multiplication. In the initiation phase, caulinary apexes of 5 to 8 mm long were cultivated in liquid culture media with Heller bridge support (M1) and in semi-solid (M2) media. The liquid culture means offered better results, since a survival of 73.3% and a lower percentage of necrosis (0.42%) was obtained. By contrast, using the semi-solid medium, the lowest values of survival (43.7) and increased necrosis explants (27.7) were recorded. Banana cultivars ‘Manzano’, ‘Topocho Criollo’ and ‘Grand Nain’ had similar percentages of survival, necrosis and pollution in the initiation phase. In the multiplication phase, explants consisting outbreaks 3 cm in length were taken. To evaluate the influence of the sub-culture of explants in the number of shoots, it was observed that sub-cultures had no influence on the number of outbreaks of ‘Manzano’ and ‘Topocho Criollo’. However, in ‘Grand Nain’, a trend was observed toward their increase by rising the subcultures. In the multiplication phase, cultivars and subcultures did not affect survival, necrosis and pollution rates