PAPAYA Carica papaya L; Caricaceae; 2n = 18

 Papaya has long been known as wonder fruit of the tropics

 It is one of the important fruit crop of tropical world.
 Papaya fruits throughout the year and a remunerative fruit crop which is grown in
almost every part of the country.
 It gives maximum yield per unit area.
 It is generally grown as fruit plant in kitchen garden, home garden or nutrition
garden and later as commercial fruit.
 It is also planted as a filler plant in a fruit orchard.

COMPOSITION AND USES:

 Papaya is a very delicious, refreshing fruit with a unique food value.
 The ripe fruits are used for desert purpose, preparation of jam, jelly, soft drinks, ice
cream, flavoring, crystallized fruits, canned in syrup, fruits salad.
 The unripe fruits are consumed as vegetables also as a contraceptive.
 The milky latex which is obtained from immature fruits is known as papain, which is
a proteolytic enzyme used in several ways.
 Tenderization of meat and it is used for tanning of leathers.
 Used in brewing industries as a clarifying agent for beer etc.
 Papaya is very nutritious, it contains high quantities of vitamin A (carotene), the
vitamin A is associated with carotene but the yellow pigment of papaya is
caricaxanthene.
 It also good source of Ca, P, Fe, fat and carbohydrates.
 Apart from papain, raw fruits can also be used for extraction of pectin.
 Tutti frutti: Papaya bits (immature) are first soaked in brine and boiled in sugar syrup
and immersed in sugar syrup for 48-60 hours with permitted colours.
 The other products like, papaya jam, canned slice, papaya beverages, fruit
bars/toffee bars, soft drinks etc, could be made out of the fruits.

ORIGIN & DISTRIBUTION:

 It is a fruit native to tropical America.
 Commercially grown in many parts of the world viz., Australia, Hawaii, Taiwan,
Puerto Rico, Peru, Florida, Texas, California, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh and
India.
 It is grown in Karnataka, Bihar, Kerala, TN, Assam, Gujarat, Maharastra, Andhra
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc

CLIMATE AND SOIL:

 Papaya is tropical fruit crop, requires worm humid climate and can be cultivated up
to an elevation of 1000-1200 m above MSL.
 It thrives well at temperature between 38-440C, but optimum range is 22-360C most
suitable.
  Papaya grows well under well drained soil with a pH range of 6-7.
 It prefers fertile soil, deep clayey and calcarious and rocky soils are not suitable.

Varieties/ cultivars:

 Honey dew: it is dioecious with less per centage of male plant and breeds true to the
type from seed, semi tall variety, bear fruits low on the trunk heavily. This variety is
popular all over India, also known as Madhu Bindu.

 Sunrise Solo: The variety is named ‗solo‘ because one man can easily consume one
fruit. This is gynodioecious variety from Hawaii with small sized fruits, pyriform and
yellowish orange pulp and keeping quality is good.

 Coorg honey dew: Selection from Honey dew at IIHR, Chethalli. This variety
produces no male plants. The plants are either hermophorodite or female. Fruits
borne on female plants are almost seedless and are of excellent quality.

 Washington: The plants are vigorous, stem and leaf stalks are

The improved strains released from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
 Co-1 It is a selection from variety Ranchi, dwarf type medium sized, spherical shape
and greenish yellow fruits with golden yellow pulp good keeping quality, yield is
about 100 –120 tons/ha

 Co-2: It is a dioecious, semi dwarf, medium tall type, very good for table and papain
extraction. It yields 5-6g. of papain per fruit.
 Co-3 : A hybrid between Co-2 x Sunrise solo. It is gynodioecious in nature, Tall
vigorous plant with medium sized fruits. The pulp is attractively red coloured and is
good for table purpose, Yields 100-220 tons/ha
 Co-4: A hybrid derivative from Co-1 x Washington. It is dioecious, medium- tall plant
with large fruits (1-1.5kg) , Yields 100-220 tons/ha

 Co-5: Selection from Washington and the plants are exclusively selected for papain
extraction and yields about 14-15 g. of papain/fruit, Yields 100-220 tons/ha.

 Co-6: Selection from pusa majesty, it yields about 80-100 fruits and also a high
papain (7.5-8 g/fruit) yielder i.e., 890 kg of dry papain/ha, Yields 100-220 tons/ha

 Co-7: It is also a gynodioecious developed through multiple crosses CP-75 ( Pusa

deliciousxCo-3) and coorg Honey dew, yields 160-180 tone/ha.

PUSA, Bihar-released some improved varieties.

 Pusa delicious - It is a gynodioecious with medium sized fruits (1.5kg) and high
yielder, male has been eliminated genetically by sibmating with hermaphrodite.
 Pusa majesty: A gynodioecious, medium round fruits with good keeping quality.
Plants resistant to virus diseases. The fruit with stand long distance transport.
  Pusa giant- Dioecious variety with big sized fruits (2-3.5 kg), plants are very vigorous
and resistant to wind damage. The fruits are suitable for canning industries.
 Pusa dwarf: The plants are dwarf and bears fruits at 38cm from the ground, they are
dioecious and medium yielder, medium sized fruits, suitable for HDP and home
gardens.
 Pusa nanha: A dioecious dwarf mutant and well suited for kitchen garden, nutrition
garden and pot cultivation. It yields about 60-65 tonnes of fruit/ha. It is developed by
gama radiation, suitable for High density planting.

Varieties released from Pantnagar University are

 Pant-1, 2 & 3.

IIHR, developed some hybrids, they are

 IIHR-39- Sunrise solo x Pink Flesh Sweet.
 IIHR-57- waimanello x PPS.
Now a days Taiwan hybrids are grown on large scale – Red lady.

PROPAGATION:

 Papaya is usually propagated by seeds.

 The seeds should be collected from healthy ripe fruits essentially from the plants
free from pest & diseases.
 The seeds should be rubbed with ash to remove mucilaginous coating to facilitate
better germination.
 However seeds can be stored for 45 days in an air tight container and stored at 10 0C.
 Before sowing, soaking seeds in 100ppm GA solution to enhance germination
percentage.

SOWING:
 Seeds may be sown in poly bags (22x15cm with 150 gauges) 6 weeks prior to
transplanting.
 The media should be disinfected by using 2 % formalin solution,
 4 seeds per polybag should be sown, if it is dioecious variety or 2 seeds, if it is
hermaphrodite variety.
 Seeds also sown in raised nursery beds; about 350 g seeds are required to plant one
hectare area.
 Germination will be observed in 2-3 weeks after sowing.
 About 6-7 weeks old seedlings will be ready for transplanting

PLANTING:
 The pit size of 1-1.5 cubic feet should be dug at 1.8 x 1.8m or at 2.4 x 2.4m apart and
filled with 30-40 kg FYM with 25gm aldrin 5 % dust will be added to the pits and filled
with top soil.
 Planting is done during monsoon season.
 Due to sex variation more than one seedling are required per pit.
 In case of dioecious varieties Co-1 & Co-2, four seedlings are transplanted/pit,
  Whereas, two seedlings are sufficient in case of hermaphrodite types like solo,
Coorg Honey Dew etc.
 After planting irrigate the pit & provide staking.

INTERCROPPING & INTERCULTIVATION:

 Different short duration vegetables can be profitably grown for about six months
from planting;
 For control of weeds, weedicides like fluchloralin or butachlor at 2.0 kg/ha have to
be applied.
 Post emergent herbicides - Glyphosate has also been found effective.

FLOWERING AND FRUIT SET:

 Papaya starts flowering in 5-6 months after planting;
 When the sex of the plant is identified, surplus male plants (plants with long 1-11/2
meters flower stalk hang out with small tubular flowers contains stamens only), may
be removed keeping one male plant for every 10 female plants, as pollinizers.

Thinning of Male plant:

 Removing of male plants by maintaining1 male plant for every 10 plants after
flowering.

Manuring:
 The recommended dosage of fertilizers for different states are given below and the
fertilizers are to be applied in 4 splits at 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th months after planting.
While applying fertilizers it is not necessary to fertilize the male trees left as
pollinizers as they will regularly put forth necessary male flowers without any extra
manuring.

STATE N P K FYM
(g/plant/year) (g/plant/year) (g/plant/year) (Kg/plant/year)
Karnataka 250 250 500 10-15

Irrigation:
 Papaya should be irrigated once in 8-10 days in winter and 6 days in summer by ring
system.
Weed Management:
 Application of weedicide such as Fluchloralin or Butachlor at 2.0 kg/ha, Post
emergent herbicides - Glyphosate has also been found effective.

Sex distribution in papaya:

 Papaya is a polygamous species; many forms of inflorescence have been reported by
Frankel and Galun, 1977. In general there are 3 important types of flowers.
1. Staminate or male flowers:

 Spleder spoon shaped buds with long, narrow tubular flowers on long peduncles,
from leaf axil petals fused at base and contains stamens but no ovary, it cannot
develop in to fruits
2. Pistilate/Female flowers:
 Large yellow, borne singly or in groups of three in the leaf axils, close to the trunk.
 These flowers have five large twisted and fleshy petals, surrounded ovary, which
swells and develops in to a papaya fruits.
3. Hermophrodite flowers:
 These are bisexual flowers, having both female and male organs, they are creamy
white in colour, big sized flowers no peduncle.
 The bisexual flowers are also borne in the same manner as of female flowers i.e.
closer to the trunk in leaf axils.

Harvesting Indices:
 Papaya comes to bearing with 10 months after planting.
 The economic life is only 3-4 years.
 Fruits are harvested when the fruit turn slight yellow in colour.
 Manual harvesting is commonly practiced.
 After harvesting in about 5-6 days fruit ripens depending upon room temperature.
 Fruits could be stored for more than 4-5 weeks at 00C; also individual fruits are
wrapped in the newspaper for ripening

YIELD: The average yield is 30-80 tons/ha.

PAPAIN EXTRACTION:
 Papain is a proteolytic enzyme extracted from the milky latex obtained from
immature papaya.
 About 400 tons of papain is produced throughout the world.
 The USA and UK are the major consumers of papain.

PROCEDURE OF EXTRACTION:
 The immature fruits of 90-100 days old are used for extraction of milky latex by
giving 4-6 cuts of about 2mm depth, the latex is collected from 5-6 tapping and
sieved the latex and dried in sun or in vacuum shelf dryer.
 The quality and grade of papain is determined by colour and enzyme activity
(Tyrosine unit).

Some of the important points to be considered while collecting the latex.

 Fruits of 90-100 days from fruit set are generally preferred.
 Oblong fruits relatively yield more yielder than round ones.
 Fruits set during July yield more papain.
 There will be a 4 fold increase in papain yield by using ethrel at 200 ppm.
 Always collect the papain in glass vessels or Aluminum trays.
 Use Potassium Metabisulphite (0.05 per cent) to extend the storage life

 About 450g/plant and 250-375 kg papain could be extracted from an hectare area.
The varieties C0-5 and C0-2 are preferred for papain extraction.