MYCORRHIZAL DEPENDENCY OF BANANA (MUSA-ACUMINATA, AAA GROUP) CULTIVAR

Seven banana cultivars (Musa acuminata, AAA group) were inoculated wit h two species of vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi (Glomus mosseae and Glomus macrocarpum) in a greenhouse experiment. Inoculated plants had generally greater shoot dry weight and shoot phosphorus co ncentrations compared to the noninoculated plants. A great variation i n dependency on mycorrhizal colonization was observed among the banana cultivars. Cv. Williams showed the highest relative mycorrhizal depen dency (RMD) and cv. Poyo the lowest. For all the cultivars studied, in oculation with G. macrocarpum resulted in the highest RMD values. Both root dry weight and root hair length or density of the noninoculated plants were inverserly correlated with the RMD values of cultivars.