Male inflorescences have potential to be used as explants for rapid micropropagation of banana. This work aimed to evaluate the influence of genotypes and clones of banana plants micropropagated from male floral buds in successive subcultures. Male inflorescences of 15 clones, of plants in the field from variety Preciosa and the hybrid FHIA 02 onto MS medium which was supplemented with 4.0 mg.L-1 BAP, were used. The number of shoots and the microbial contamination were evaluated for seven subcultures of 30 days. At the end of multiplication the total number of plantlets produced was also evaluated. It was verified that the higher rates of microbial contamination occurred in the first month of cultivation, with rates of more than 50% of explants contaminated. The best multiplication rates were achieved in the third subculture where up to 6.1 shoots per explant were obtained. The clones that presented the higher plantlets accumulation at the end of the multiplication period, produced 105 and 163 plantlets per explant for Preciosa and FHIA 02, respectively, after seven subcultures.
Musa spp; inflorescences; contamination; in vitro propagation; morphogenesis
