The purpose of this research was to assess the plants growth and production of genotypes of 4 genomic groups of banana: 'Nanicão-iAC-2001', 'Grande Naine', 'Caipira' and 'Nam' (AAA); 'maçã', 'Thap maeo', 'PrataAnã'and 'Prata Zulu'(AAB); 'FHIA01', 'FHIA18', 'Prata Graúda'and 'maçã Tropical' (AAAB), in Botucatu, state of São Paulo, Brazil. Some growth characteristics were evaluated such as: plant height, the pseudostem circumference, number of leaves, number of days between planting and flowering, number of days between flowering and harvest and number of days from planting to harvest. The production characteristics such as the bunch weight, number of fruits, average weight of the fruits, number of hands and weight, number, length and diameter of the fruits of the 2nd hand and yield. The results indicated that in the group AAA, 'Nanicão' showed good characteristics regarding to growth and production. However, 'Grande Naine' had the highest values in productive terms. 'Nam' showed the lowest height and the shortest cycle, but it had low productive values. Regarding to the group AAB, 'Prata Zulu' showed the biggest pseudostem circumference, good productive characteristics, but it had the longest cycle and the highest height. 'Thap maeo'standsout asit shows goodproductioncharacteristics.'PrataAnã'had the lowest height andthe shortest cycle. However, it did not have a good productive performance. in relation to the group AAAB, 'FHIA 01' showed the highest values in most of the characteristics which were evaluated, standing out among the other hybrids. We can conclude that 'Grande Naine' stands out inside the group AAA, 'Thap maeo' and 'Prata Zulu' inside the group AAB and 'FHIA 01' inside the group AAAB.
Musa sp; growth; cycle; yield
