Two experiments were carried out in Campinas, State of São Paulo, Brazil, to evaluate the resistance of young trees of seven lines of Coffea arabica ('Mundo Novo': CP388-17, CP379-19, CP501 and MP376-4; 'Catuaí Yellow' H2077-2-5-62 and 'Catuaí Red' H2077-2-5-81; and 'Caturra Yellow' and two of C. canephora (Robusta: 'Guarini' col, 10 and 'Kouillon' col. 67-14) to the four races of Meloidogyne incognita in pots. In the first experiment, each plant was infested five months after transplanting with 8000 eggs, and evaluated six months later. In the second experiment, the plants were infested near one year after transplanting with 7000 eggs each one, and evaluated ten months later. Races 1 and 2 infested all cultivars, however, nematode reproduction was lower in the older plants. Races 3 and 4 presented low infestation and some imunity reactions (race 4, mainly) what does not have any practical importance since they have a low frequence of occurrence. Catuaí cultivars presented lower egg-mass notes than Mundo Novo cultivars indicating some degree of resistance. However, the low levels of infestation observed do not necessarily indicate that these races will not damage coffee plants under field conditions.
coffee; Coffea arabica; Coffea canephora; nematode; Meloidogyne incognita; races; resistance