Papaya is one of the important quick growing Fruit Crops rich in Vitamin A and rich source of Vitamin C.On an average 100 g of ripe papaya contains 2500 I.U. of edible Vitamin A and 70 mg. of ascorbic acid.It improves digestion and said to cure chronic constipation, piles and enlarged liver and spleen.Papain is a valuable enzyme prepared from the latex of papaya.A.P. has an area of 2092 Ha. under papaya with an annual production of 1.6 lakh M.Tonnes.

CLIMATE

It is a tropical fruit, it has to be grown in areas free from frost.

SOILS

Well drained medium black to red loamy soils are suitable.It can be grown on comparatively poor soils with heavy manuring and watering.It does not thrive well in calcarious and stony soils which contain little organic matter.Papaya does not tolerate water logging.

VARIETIES

Honey Dew, Coorg Honey Dew, Washington, Solo, Co-1, Co-2,Co-3, Co4, Pusa Dwarf.

PROPAGATION

By seed and tissue culture. It is necessary to obtain pure seeds from reliable sources.

NURSERY

Prepare raised seed beds of 2m in length; 1m in breadth and 10cm height. Apply 10-15 Kg. FYM and 1/2 Kg. of 15:15:15 mixture per bed.

Drench the beds with Ceresan wet (2g in 1 lit. of water) solution.Sow freshly extracted seeds at a depth of 2-3 cm. in rows with a spacing of 5 cm.in the rows and about 15 cm. between rows.Sowing of seeds during March-April is desirable to facilitate availability of plants during June-July. About 250g. of seeds is enough for raising seedlings for 1 Ha. Provide water regularly during summer.

In about 3 weeks time seeds germinate. In 2 months seedlings with a height of 15-20 cm. are ready for transplanting Papaya seedlings can be in polybaga which is convenient during transport and easy establishment.

SPACING

6 to 8 ft.

PLANTING

Plough the land. Dig pits of 40*40*40 cm. cube and fill them with top soil and compost. Place the seedling in the centre and provide support.

IRRIGATION

Provide irrigation at an interval of 6 days in summer and 8-10 days in winter.The ring system of irrigation is better than bed or basin system because the ring system prevents irrigation water from coming into direct contact with the stem thus preventing collar rot.

PLANT PROTECTION

Leaf Curt : The disease characterised by severe curling, crinkling and deformation of the leaves. Mostly the young leaves are affected. Other symptoms like vein clearing, reduced leaf size inward rolling of the leaves and petioles are twisted. The diseased leaves become thick and brittle. The plants are very stunted in growth and fruit yield is reduced.

Control Measures : Spraying of Metasystox 0.1% at an interval of 10-15 days for controlling the vectors.

Foot Rot : The disease occurs both in nursery and in main field. The leaves turn yellow and drop off. The plant may collapse with a breakdown at the bottom. The disease will be severe in ill drained conditions.

Control Measures : The badly affected plants should be uprooted and burnt. Water logging should be avoided. The disease incidence can be reduced by spraying the Stem and drenching the soil around the stem with bordeaux mixture.

POWDERY MILDEW

Whitish patches appear on lower surface of leaves. Corresponding upper surface appears yellow. The affected leaves turn yellow and dry up. If young fruits are attacked they do not develop further and shrivell and drop off prematurely.

CONTROL

Dusting sulphur 10 Kg/acre or spraying of Karathane 0.05% or any wattable sulphur is effective.

PAPAY MOSAIC

The top young leaves of the diseased plants are much reduced in size and show blister patches of dark green tissue alternating with yellowish green and puckering. The leaf petiole is reduced in length. Fruits on diseased plants develop circular water soaked lesions with a central solid spot. The fruits are elongated and reduced in size.

CONTROL

Removal of infected plants and destroying them.
Contolling aphids, vectors by periodical spraying of systemic insecticides.

MANURES AND FERTILIZERS

Application of 25 tons of FYM per ha and 250g N,250g P and 500g K/plant/year is recommended. Apply the entire quantity of N, P205 and K2O in split application once in 2 months commencing from the 2nd month of planting.

INTERCROPPING

When papaya is grown as a pure crop. Vegetables can be profitably grown as intercrops for about 6 monthsfrom planting of papaya seedlings.

YIELD

Papaya fruits will be ready for harvest in about 9-10 months after planting. Fruits are borne througout the year. Yield varies from 75 to 100 tonnes per Hectare. The economic life of papaya plant is only 2 1/2 to 3 years.

PAPAIN EXTRACTION

Papaya fruits which are about 90-100 days old(fully grown but not mature) are selected for tapping. In the morning hours before 10 a.m. Four longitudinal incision are given on the four sides of the selected fruits from the stack end to the top of the fruit. The depth of the incision should be 3 mm. On incising latex starts flowing and this is collected in suitable containers. (arecanut spathes, aluminium trays or glass vessels). Care should be taken not to use any other containers for papain collection since it will react with papain rendering it unfit for any use. the latex that solidifies in the cuts should also be scrapped carefully and added to the liquid latex. This process of making four incisions in the untapped fruit surface at 3-4 days interval is repeated thrice or four times over a period of 12 to 16 days. The latex thus collected every time shoud be dried in the sun or in dries at temperature ranging between 50⁰C to 55⁰ C.Pottassium metrabisulphite 0.05% is added to the liquid latex in small quanities before it is dried since this helps to extend the storage of papain. The drying is continued until it comes off in flakes having a porus structure. The dried papain is powdered, sieved in a 10 mesh sieve and stored in polythene bags or any other suitable container. After papain extraction, fruits can also be used for consumption.