Performance of papaya cultivars grown under protected conditions

Papaya is an important fruit crop of tropical region. However, it can be grown successfully in the sub-tropical regions of north India with suitable precautions. The major limitations in papaya cultivation on commercial scale in Punjab include dioecious nature of varieties, extremes of temperature, frost, water-logging causing wilt and susceptibility to viral diseases (leaf curl and mosaic). These problems can be managed to some extent by growing plants under protected conditions. In the present study, plants of five papaya varieties, namely, Surya, Madhu, Arka Prabhath, Pusa Dwarf and Red Lady 786 were evaluated under poly-nethouse in 2012 and analysed for yield and various physico-chemical fruit traits. The results revealed significant variations in fruit number (20.47-46.00), yield (10.49-38.84 kg), fruit weight (508.00-841.67 g), TSS (8.0-13.0%) and total sugars (3.0-7.9%). However, no significant variations were observed in terms of edible portion, fruit firmness and titrable acidity. The highest yield (38.84 kg) and best fruit quality traits in terms of fruit weight (841.67 g), TSS (13.0%) and total sugars (7.9%) were found in the variety Red Lady 786.