Seven groups of elite citrus (Citrus sp.) rootstock hybrids and their genitors were field tested for gummosis caused by Phytophthora parasitica. Two trunk inoculations were made in 132 nucellar clones of the genitors and in 486 hybrids between 'Limeira' rangpur lime (Citrus limonia) (C), 'Davis A' trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata) (T), 'Sunki' mandarin (C. sunki) (S) and 'São Paulo' sour orange (C. aurantium) (A). The degree of resistance to gummosis could be estimated from inoculation of adult plants in the field only when it was based on the mean lesions of more than 30 nucellar plants. This was due to the great variations observed in single individuals of the same clone although the conditions were well controlled. For this reason, it was not possible to make an early selection of hybrids based on the mean lesion area developed in single individuals. Trifoliate and sour oranges were quite resistant, displaying small-size lesions. Sunki mandarin and rangpur lime developed larger lesions, although Sunki mandarin tended to develop larger lesions than rangpur lime. In general, trifoliate hybrids showed lesions of intermediate size. Sour orange hybrids developed lesions that were quite variable in size although most of them were large. This same behaviour was observed among reciprocal SxC hybrids.
