Resumen

VALERIO, Rosanna; LINDORF, Helga  y  GARCIA DE GARCIA, Eva. Anatomía foliar comparada de ocho cultivares de banano con relación a la resistencia o susceptibilidad a la Sigatoka (amarilla y negra)*. Agronomía Trop. [online]. 2002, vol.52, n.4, pp.507-521. ISSN 0002-192X.

SUMMARY Banana and plantain Musa sp., frequently suffer from a leaf disease named sigatoka caused by fungi of the Mycosphaerella genera. This disease causes a considerable damage in all the banana plantations of Venezuela and Latin America. The distinct signs include black (black sigatoka) or yellow (yellow sigatoka) spots on plant leaves that diminish their functional surface. Some structural characters of the plant organs can act as physical barriers, blocking the entrance of the pathogens. In this research we studied the leaf anatomy of six banana clones resistant (FHIA-01, FHIA-02, FHIA-03, FAGRO 7, Yagambí km 5 and CIEN BTA-03) and two susceptible (Williams and Titiaro) to sigatoka, in order to assess if there was a relation between these characteristics and their behavior towards sigatoka. We analyzed epidermal and mesophyll sections, cell measurements and stomata counts. Data was statistically analyzed by the simple ANOVA test. Leaf anatomy was similar in the eight cultivars, nonetheless significant differences were found in the morphometric analysis. The thickest cuticule and epidermis were found in FHIA and somaclon CIENBTA-03. They also presented lowest stomata density which is in accordance to their resistant condition. High density of small stomata associated with low levels of ploidy was found; the contrary was also true, as has been previously reported. Nonetheless, in other cultivars as Yagambi km 5, leaf anatomy features were not apparently related to the resistant phenotype.

Palabras clave : Leaf anatomy; Musa sp.; sigatoka; Mycosphaerella.