Coffee is one of the most valuable agricultural products in world trade being crucial to the economies of many developing countries. However its production is constrained by a number of major diseases, including Coffee Berry Disease (CBD) caused by Colletotrichum kahawae Waller & Bridge. Currently CBD is limited to Africa, constituting a serious threat to other coffee growing countries in other continents. This disease is responsible for up to 80% of crop losses, if no control measures are applied. The most widely used method to control this disease involves the application of fungicides. However some institutions in some coffee growing countries are developing breeding programs for the creation of resistant varieties to this pathogen. In this work resistance of different tetraploid interspecific coffee hybrids were characterized by pre-screening tests and several genotypes with different levels of resistance to some C. kahawae isolates were selected. Additional observations were made in hypocotyls inoculated with different isolates of C. kahawae allowed the characterization of dilatory resistance in coffee genotypes classified as susceptible. Histological studies were also made in hypocotyls with the aim of evaluating their behaviour compared with other known genotypes.

Mestrado em Engenharia Agronómica - Instituto Superior de Agronomia