The differential response of 32 commercial cotton cultivars to A. macrospora was studied under greenhouse conditions. Twenty to twentyfive days old plants were inoculated in 25 repetitions in a randomized block design. The cultivars were grouped using the Scott & Knott analysis. Complete resistance was not found and all cultivars were susceptible to the pathogen. Differential reaction within the plants of the same cultivar was observed. However, when some resistant plants of cultivars BRS Antares and Fibermax 986 were inoculated using a mixture of nine randomly selected isolates of A. macrospora, the plants maintained their resistance. Further research is necessary to find sources of resistance to this pathogen in other species of Gossypium.
Gossypium hirsutum; varietal resistence; Alternaria
