M I N I R E V I E W Coffee resistance to the main diseases: leaf rust and coffee berry disease Maria do Céu Silva1, Victor Várzea1, Leonor Guerra-Guimarães1, Helena Gil Azinheira1, Diana Fernandez2, Anne-Sophie Petitot2, Benoit Bertrand3, Philippe Lashermes2 and Michel Nicole2 1Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (IICT) - Centro de Investigação das Ferrugens do Cafeeiro (CIFC), Quinta do Marquês, 2784-505 Oeiras, Portugal; 2Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UMR DGPC, Résistance des Plantes, BP 64501 - 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; 3Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche pour le Développement (CIRAD), Département des Cultures Pérennes, UMR DGPC, Résistance des Plantes, BP 64501 - 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. *Corresponding author:
[email protected] Considerable success has been obtained in the use of classical breeding to control economically important plant diseases, such as the coffee leaf rust and the coffee berry disease (CBD). There is a strong consensus that growing genetically resistant varieties is the most appropriate cost effective means of managing plant diseases and is one of the key components of crop improvement. It has also been recognized that a better knowledge of both, the pathogens and the plant defence mechanisms will allow the development of novel approaches to enhance the durability of resistance. After a brief description of concepts in the field of plant disease resistance, we attempt to give a view of the research progress on coffee leaf rust and CBD concerned with the pathogens infection and variability, coffee breeding for resistance and coffee resistance mechanisms. Key words: Coffea, Colletotrichum kahawae, Hemileia vastatrix, coffee breeding, resistance.