Resumen
- Endophytic fungi were isolated from internal root and corm tissue from twenty-one banana cultivars in Central America. The banana cultivars sampled were: 5 diploids, 13 triploids and 3 tetraploids from 8 banana plantations from, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala and Honduras. A total of 132 isolates of endophytic fungi were recovered. The most frequently detected endophytic fungi were strains of Fusarium, Acremonium, Verticillium and Trichoderma. A total of 28 strains belonging to Fusarium spp. were tested on banana tissue culture plantlets under greenhouse conditions for antagonistic activity to Radopholus similis. Five of these non-pathogenic strains of Fusarium were able to cause a significant reductions in the number of R. similis/g root higher than 80% on four banana cultivars: Gran Enano (AAA) Williams (AAA), Gros Michel (AAA) and FHIA-23 (AAAA).