Varietal wealth of Papaya in India

Authors: Jai Prakash, A. K. Goswami and Kanhaiya Singh
Division of Fruits and Horticultural Technology
ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-12
Corresponding author Email: Singhjai2001@rediffmail.com

Papaya is very important fruit crop in tropical and subtropical region of India. Two types of papaya varieties i.e. either dioecious or gynodioecious type are available in India. The varieties can be also being identified after sex expression. The dioecious varieties produce male and female plants in 1:1 ratio when propagated from seeds. The gynodioecious varieties produce female and bisexual (hermaphrodite form) in 1:2 ratio.

Coorg Honey dew: This variety was released from IIHR, Bangalore. It was selected from the variety ‘Honey dew’ and is popular gynodioecious cultivars, which bears oblong shaped fruits with thick flesh and good flavour. The varietal purity can be maintained by growing it in isolation.
Pusa Delicious : This is a gynodioecious line with medium tall plants and is heavy yielder (58 â€" 61 kg per plant) with good sweet quality (10 â€"12 Brix). Fruiting starts at the height of 70 â€"80 cm from ground level within 260 â€" 270 days after planting. The fruits are medium sized (1.5 to 2.0 kg) with orange flesh, having excellent flavour.
Pusa Majesty : It is a gynodioecious line, suitable for papain production and is comparable to CO2 for papain yield. The fruits are medium sized, round in shape and have better keeping quality.
Pusa Dwarf : It is a dioecious variety with dwarf plant and medium sized (1.0 â€" 2.0 kg) oval fruits. The plants start bearing from 25 â€" 30 cm above ground level. The variety is very suitable for high density planting.
Pusa Giant : Plants of this variety are vigorous, sturdy and tolerant to strong winds. It is a dioecious cultivar with big sized (2.5 â€" 3.0kg) fruits and is suitable for canning industry.
Pusa Nanha : It is an ultra-dwarf variety and suitable for cultivation in kitchen garden, pot and even on the roof of the house. It can produce fruits up to 3 years.
The varieties developed from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University are as follows:
CO 1: It is a dioecious variety selected from dwarf and fruits are round with flattened base. Fruiting starts 60 cm from ground level. The fruit weight varies from 1.0 to 1.5 kg with a TSS of 10 â€" 12 Brix. Fruits have yellow flesh with no papain odour and hence it is suitable as a good table variety.
CO 2 : It is a dioecious variety developed from pure line from local type during 1979. Fruit weight varies from 1.25 to 1.5 kg and has good papain content ( 4 â€" 6 g per fruit). Fruits are large in size with small cavity, yellow flesh and TSS of 11 â€" 12 Brix. This variety can produce 250 â€"300 kg papain per hectare
CO 3 : It is a hybrid between CO 2 (Female parent) and sunrise solo (male parent). It is a gynodioecious type, released during 1983 as a table variety. The fruits are medium sized, yellow to orange fleshed with a TSS of 12 â€" 13o Brix. The average fruit weight is 0.5 to 0.8 kg with 90 â€" 120 fruit / plant / year. The fruits are pyriform in shape.
CO 4 : This is a hybrid of CO 1 and Washington. Fruit flesh is thick and yellow. The plant has attractive purple colouration in all the parts. It is a dioecious type. The mean fruit weight varies from 1.0 to 1.5 kg with a TSS of 12o Brix. The tree gives 80 to 90 fruits in a period of two years.
CO 5: It is a selection from Washington during 1985 and selected for its high papain production, which has high proteolytic activity and high protein ( 72%). It produces 14 â€" 15 g dry papain / fruit. It gives 75 â€" 80 fruit / tree in two years with an average weight of 1.5 kg with a TSS of 12 â€"13o Brix
CO 6 : It is a selection from variety ‘giant’ during the year 1986. The variety is dioecious, dwarf and suitable for table and papain purpose. The yield is 80 â€" 90 fruit / tree in two years with average fruit weight of 1.5 to 2.0 kg and TSS of 12 â€" 13o Brix.
CO 7: This variety is gynodiocious in nature developed through multiple crosses and stabilized for over four years. The parents involved are Pusa delicious, CO. 3 CP.75 and Coorg Honey Dew. It is superior to CO. 3 papaya and released in 1993. The fruits are firm red flesh. The TSS is 16.7 brix with a total sugar content of 15.80%. The economic duration of 21 months..
RCTP-I (Tripura Papita) : It was developed through selection and also identified as high yielding gynodiocious from ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Tripura Centre, Lembucherra and relaesd in 2014 by SVRC Tripura. Plant is tall in stature with single straight stem without branching. Fruits were well shaped adequately spaced on the plants without any thinning. A plant produced an average fruit yield of 63.25 kg. The total soluble solids were 12.5 brix at ripening stage of the fruit.
Arka Surya: It is an advance generation gynodioecious hybrid cross between Sunrise Solo and Pink Flesh Sweet developed at IIHR, Bangalore. Surya is a gynodioecious variety yielding medium sized fruits, weighing an average of 600-800 g each with red pulp. The fruits are sweet with good shelf life.
Arka Prabhat: It is an advance generation gynodioecious hybrid selection from the cross (Surya x Tainung-1 x Local Dwarf) developed at IIHR, Bangalore. It is a gynodioecious variety yielding medium sized fruits, weighing an average of 1200-1500 g each with red pulp. The total soluble solids were in a range of 13-14⁰brix at ripening.
Sun Rise Solo: The sun rise solo is an improved, high quality selection with reddish orange flesh. It is an improved strain from a cross between line â€" 8 â€" solo with yellow â€" flesh Kariya solo strain of Oahu. The fruits are moderate in size, weighting 425 â€" 620g each.
Red lady: It is a gynodioecious hybrid of the Know you company groups belong to Taiwan. It is very popular hybrid in all over country due firmness and red flesh colour of the fruit. Fruit size in a range of 1.5-2.5kg with firm fruit. The TSS range from 13-16 brix with optimum keeping quality.
Sinta: It is a gynodioecious hybrid of institute of plant breeding, UPLB, Philippines released in 1995. It is yellow flesh colour hybrid firm and solid with small cavity index. It is moderately tolerant to viral problems and excellent keeping quality. The fruit weight ranges from 0.8kg to 1.5kg with 13-15 brix of the TSS.

About Author / Additional Info:
I am working as a senior scientist at IARI New Delhi.