ISHS Acta Horticulturae 632: XXVI International Horticultural Congress: Citrus and Other Subtropical and Tropical Fruit Crops: Issues, Advances and Opportunities
BREEDING AND SELECTION FOR EARLY BEARING PAPAYAS |
| Authors: | T.W. Zimmerman, J.A. Kowalski |
| Keywords: | Carica papaya, virus tolerance, fruit quality |
| Abstract:
Papaya (Carica papaya L.) production in the U.S. Virgin Islands is for the domestic market but it has been plagued by the Papaya Ringspot Virus (PRSV) and seasonal hurricanes. This has resulted in papayas now being grown as an annual crop. The need exists in the U.S. Virgin Islands for papayas with early production to ensure a marketable crop within 9-10 months. The local demand is for papayas of the 1-1.5 kg size which is considerably larger than the 0.25-0.5 kg Solo varieties developed for export. Breeding and selection has been on-going for seven years to develop papayas with tolerance to PRSV and fruit production starting at or less than 1 m from the soil surface. The height at first fruit set of over 60 papaya cultivars evaluated on St. Croix, USVI, ranged from 60 to 253 cm. Through breeding and selection, three papaya lines have been developed which initiate fruit set between 40-60 cm from the soil surface. These lower height bearing papaya lines produce fruit that are marketable one month earlier than other cultivars. | |
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