In the present study plants of Coffea arabica, C. canephora, and interespecific hybrids were evaluated on their response to brown eye spot (Cercospora coffeicola), an important disease of the coffee crop. Two experiments were carried out in 2003 in Campinas, SP, with seedlings of C. arabica cultivars Mundo Novo IAC 388-17-1, Mundo Novo IAC 376-4, Bourbon Amarelo, Bourbon Vermelho, Obatã IAC 1669-20, Catuaí Vermelho IAC 144, Catuaí Amarelo IAC 62, Icatu Precoce IAC 3282, Icatu Vermelho IAC 4045, Ouro Verde IAC H5010-5, Tupi IAC 1669-33, of C. canephora, Robusta IAC 1653-7 and Apoatã IAC 2258, as well as two interspecific hybrids Piatã IAC 387 and Híbrido de Timor IAC 1559-13. The seedlings were inoculated with a conidial suspension containing a mixture of five isolates of C. coffeicola collected in different regions of São Paulo State. The most susceptible materials were Robusta IAC 1653-7, Apoatã IAC 2258, Híbrido de Timor IAC 1559-13, Bourbon Vermelho, and Bourbon Amarelo, with levels of incidence that varied from 81.6 to 63.1% in the first experiment, and from 70 to 93.3% in the second, and severity (graded scale 1-6) from 2.92 and 3.42 in the first experiment to 2.79 and 3.64 in the second. The most resistant materials were Piatã IAC 387, Ouro Verde IAC H5010-5 and Tupi IAC 1669-33, with incidence between 28.4 and 35.5 % in the first experiment and between 21.1 and 55.6%, in the second, and severity that varied from 1.44 to 1.73 in the first experiment to 1.28 to 1.88 in the second.
Cercospora coffeicola; Coffea arabica; disease resistance
