Reaction and colonization of common bean genotypes by
INTRODUCTIONBrazil is one of the world's leading common bean producers and consumers, with a harvest of almost three million tons in 2012, in the main producing states of Paraná, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Goiás (Agrianual 2013). Bacterial diseases are among the yield-limiting factors of the crop in the country, particularly bacterial wilt. This disease is caused by Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens (Cff), and was first described by Hedges (1922) in the USA. Currently, the disease has already been detected in several countries (EPPO 2011) and Brazilian states (Valentini et al. 2010). Bacterial wilt colonizes the xylem vessels of the affected plants, leading to disruption and degradation of the primary xylem. Infected plants show symptoms of wilting leaves, which later evolve to withering and death (Dinesen 1978). Yield losses in susceptible cultivars can be close to 50% (Miranda Filho 2006). Bacterial wilt is controlled by preventive measures, e.g., by using healthy seeds, incorporation of crop bean residues into the soil, crop rotation with non-host species, and by using cultivars with some level of resistance (Huang et al. 2009, Valentini et al. 2010.A number of studies identified Cff-resistant common bean genotypes in Brazil. According to Maringoni (2002), high resistance levels were observed in the cultivars IAC Carioca Akytã, IAC Carioca Aruã, and IAC Carioca Pyatã. Souza et al. (2006) Carioca Aruã, IAC Carioca Pyatã, and IAC Carioca Tybatã, whose resistance reactions were found to be as described by Maringoni (2002) and Souza et al. (2006).