High, intermediate and low virulent strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv. manihotis were isolated from cassava fields in Nigeria. Resistance to cassava bacterial blight (CBB) increased with age. CBB was established by as little as 10('4) CFU/mL inoculum, but general symptom severity and lesion length differences between resistant, intermediate and susceptible cultivars were greatest with 10('6) CFU/mL and leaf wilting with 10('8) CFU/mL. CBB increased shoot dry weight and foliar ion leakage; this increase was greater for potassium and magnesium than for sodium and calcium. Pathogen multiplication in leaves was least in the resistant cultivar and it spread to the stem only in the susceptible one. CBB reduced liquid flow in stem of resistant, intermediate and susceptible cultivars by 43, 35 and 96%, respectively. Flow in the healthy susceptible cultivar was double that in the more resistant cultivars. The number of non-functional vascular bundles in diseased plants was negatively correlated with liquid absorption and translocation.

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