Coffee corky-root disease, also called corchosis, was first detected in 1974 in a small area of Costa Rica where the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne arabicida is the dominant species. An epidemiological study revealed a constant association between Meloidogyne spp. and Fusarium sp. in cases of corky root. No corky root appears to have been reported in association with Meloidogyne exigua, which is the prevalent root-knot nematode on coffee in Costa Rica. Fusarium spp. are often cited as components of disease complexes in association with nematodes. Combined inoculations using M. arabicida or M. exigua with Fusarium oxysporum under controlled conditions showed that only the combination with M. arabicida produced corky-root symptoms on Coffea arabica cvs Caturra or Catuai. Fusarium oxysporum alone was nonpathogenic. Meloidogyne exigua or M. arabicida alone caused galls and reduction in shoot height, but no corky-root symptoms. When cultivars susceptible and resistant to M. arabicida were studied under field conditions for 5 years, all the susceptible cultivars exhibited corky-root symptoms on 40-80% of their root systems. Cultivars that were resistant to M. arabicida but not to M. exigua showed no corky root. These observations lead to the conclusion that corky-root disease has a complex etiology, and emphasize the dominant role of M. arabicida as a predisposing agent to subsequent invasion by E oxysporum. Consequently, genetic resistance to M. arabicida appears to provide an effective strategy against the disease.