Cultivars of the avocado (Persea americana Mill) 'Margarida', 'Fortuna' and 'Geada' have importance in the national and international markets. The present paper had as objective to evaluate the reaction of such cultivars to Phytophthora cinanamomi Rands, the causal agent of avocado root rot. They were inoculated four roots in three different trees, one of each cultivar, in three different points of the root. In the each cultivar, from the four roots, one was used as check, where it was implanted health tissue. The evaluation was held at 120 day after inoculation, observing the roots externally, searching for color alterations and pathogen structures on the root surface region at the inoculated points. Internally, the bark was removed to visualize the alterations at the inoculated points observing alteration in the tissue color and measuring the darking extension (aparent lesion). On the lesion, segments of the root were taken and implanted on a medium of corn meal - agar, incubated to check the colonization in the area without darkness, that is, a-non apparent colonization. From the evaluated cultivars, 'Hass' was the least susceptible to P. cinnamomi when compared with 'Fortuna' and 'Margarida'. It was also observed that this pathogen may show development or colonization on root tissue out of the symptomatic areas.
Phytophthora cinnamomi; Persea americana; Hass; Fortuna; Margarida
