The resistance of the Iapar-59 coffee (Coffea arabica) cultivar to Meloidogyne exigua was compared with cv. IAC-Apoatã, used as a resistance standard, and with susceptible cultivars Mundo Novo (IAC 379-19), Catuaí (IAC 62) and Tupi (IAC 1669-33). One-year old plants were inoculated with 10,000 of M. exigua eggs and 93 days after inoculation, the reproduction of M. exigua was evaluated by determining the number of galls (NG), the number of eggs (NO), the reproduction factor (RF), reduction in the reproduction factor (RFR) and behaviour of the coffee plant. A lower degree of M. exigua reproduction was equally observed in 'Iapar-59' and 'Apoatã', in which NG, NO and the FR were lower then those observed in 'Mundo Novo', 'Catuaí' and 'Tupi'. Greater reduction in the reproduction factor (RFR) of M. exigua observed in 'Apoatã' and 'Iapar-59' indicaties a resistance reaction of 'Iapar-59'.
root knot nematodes; resistance; Coffea arabica; C. canephora
