Papaya Cultivation; Chapter 1 - Introduction

Papaya is a fast growing arbore scent herb, with short life and very sensitive nature. It has single straight or sometimes branched stem reaching 2-10 m height (Papaya tree). When it reaches maturity usually after one year of production, new shoots appear at the lower trunk that develops into branches when the plant reaches it maximum high or when the main top stem is prune off. The stem is cylindrical spongy-fibrous, loose, hollow, gray or gray-brown color, 10-30 cm diameter and toughened by large and protuberant scars caused by fallen leaves and flowers. Papaya has approximately 31 varieties and can be cultivated throughout the India but there are few limitations.  

 

Papaya, with spirally arranged leaves confined to the top of the trunk. The lower trunk is conspicuously scarred where leaves and fruit were borne. The leaves are large, 50–70 cm (20–28 in) in diameter, deeply palmately lobed, with seven lobes. Unusually for such large plants, the trees are dioecious. The tree is usually unbranched, unless lopped. The flowers are similar in shape to the flowers of the Plumeria, but are much smaller and wax-like. They appear on the axils of the leaves, maturing into large fruit - 15–45 cm (5.9–17.7 in) long and 10–30 cm (3.9–11.8 in) in diameter. The fruit is ripe when it feels soft (as soft as a ripe avocado or a bit softer) and its skin has attained amber to orange hue. 

 

The plants may be classified into three primary sex types: 1) male (staminate), 2) hermaphroditic (bisexual), and 3) female (Pistillate). In addition, some plants can produce, at the same time, more than one kind of flower. Also, some produce flowers that are not of these basic forms, but exhibit different degrees of maleness and femaleness. This tendency to change in sexual expression seems to be triggered by climatic factors, such as drought and variable temperatures. The tendency to produce male flowers seems to increase at high temperatures. Since male trees are unfruitful and fruit from bisexual plants is preferred in some markets, it is very important to select seed which will produce fruitful trees of the desired type. This can't be done by simply saving seed from productive open-pollinated plants, but one can predict fairly accurately the progeny by knowing the source of pollen and the kind of flower the fruit came from. In the past few decades agriculture sector has increased drastically production wise and quality wise so there are so many companies all over the world which are providing hybrid seeds, in which the production, resistance to disease, quality etc. important factors are favorable.

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