The objective of this work was to select progenies of productive and rust resistant coffee plants. An experiment was installed and carried out in Machado, MG, Brazil, where 29 progenies obtained from the Icatu x Catimor cross were evaluated and selected by the coffee plant genetic improvement program coordinated by EPAMIG. Cultivar Ruby MG 1192 was used as control. The experiment was arranged in a randomized block design with three repetitions. Production of processed coffee in 60 kg bags.ha-1 from six harvests, from 2001/2002 to 2006/2007, vegetative vigor evaluated after the 2006/2007 harvest and the incidence and severity of rust in the first semester of 2006 were analyzed. Variability was observed for production and rust resistance, which was confirmed by heredability estimates of good magnitude, varying from 58.5% for production to 92.6% for rust incidence. These results allied to good production means, low rust incidence and severity and good vegetative vigor of some progenies, show that it is possible to select superior progenies on the basis of production and rust resistance.
Coffee; improvement; resistance; rust
