The bacterium Xylella fastidiosa has a large host range, including species of 28 different mono and dicotiledoneous plant families. On coffee (Coffea spp.), X. fastidiosa was previously reported only on the species Coffea arabica. Studies were carried out to determine the presence of X. fastidiosa in different species and interspecific hybrids of coffee. The species of coffee included in this study were the following: C. kapakata, C. canephora, C. racemosa, C. arabica, C. dewevrei, C. stenophylla and C. eugenioides. The interespecific hybrids of C. arabica examined were the following: C. arabica x C. dewevrei, C. arabica x C. eugenioides, C. arabica x C. racemosa and C. arabica x C. robusta. Samples were collected from plagiotropic branches of different plants for each species or hybrid. Four replicates were examined for each coffee accession examined. Detection of X. fastidiosa in the samples was determined by DAS-ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence. The bacterium was detected in all seven species and four hybrids of coffee studied. However, the plants did not show any symptom of infection by X. fastidiosa. The species C. arabica showed the highest proportion of positive samples and the largest absorbance values in the DAS-ELISA test. In contrast, the species C. racemosa and C. dewevrei showed the lowest proportion of positive samples for the presence of X. fastidiosa, as well as, the lowest absorbance values in the DAS-ELISA test.
