The papaya, papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant species Carica papaya, one of 21 species of the family Caricaceae. Growing in tropical climates is possible in several countries. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica. A papaya from India made 38% of the world’s supply in 2022.
The papaya tree grows from 5 to 10 m (16 to 33 ft) tall, with spirally arranged leaves confined to the top of the trunk. Leaves and fruit are conspicuously scarred on the lower trunk. Leaf diameter is 50–70 cm (20–28 in), palmately lobed, and has seven lobes. An articulated laticifer contains laticiferous latex.
A papaya is dioecious. There are five petals on each flower, and the stamens are fused to the petals on the male flowers. The papaya flower has two types. There are five contorted petals loosely connected at the base of the female flowers.
Flower Of the Papaya
Female flowers are borne in few-flowered dichasia, while male flowers are borne in multiflowered dichasia. Pollen grains are approximately 35 microns long. The flowers are sweet-scented, open at night, and wind- or insect-pollinated.
Papaya Fruits
The fruit is a large berry measuring 15–45 cm (6–17+3⁄4 in) long and 10–30 cm (4–11+3⁄4 in) in diameter. The fruit is ripe when its skin has turned amber to orange and its flesh feels soft (like a ripe avocado). A large central cavity is filled with numerous black seeds attached to its walls.
During ripening, papaya skin and pulp contain a variety of phytochemicals, including carotenoids, polyphenols, and benzyl isothiocyanates. The yellow skin contains the carotenoids lutein and beta-carotene, whereas the red flesh contains lycopene. Papaya seeds also contain prunasin, which is a cyanogenic substance. Green fruits contain papain, a cysteine protease enzyme that tenderizes meat
Viruse problem of the papaya
A well-known virus in Florida is papaya ringspot virus. It causes yellowing and vein-clearing of younger leaves, as well as mottling yellow leaves. Affected leaves may develop blisters, roughen, or narrow, with blades sticking upward. As the plant ages, it develops dark green greasy streaks on the petioles and stems. A ringspot is a circular, C-shaped spot on the fruit that is darker green. As the virus progresses, the markings turn gray and crusty. A viral infection reduces fruit quality and growth. Taste is one of the biggest effects of viral infections on papaya. In 2010, only genetic modification could protect papaya from this virus.
Papaya mosaic virus destroys the plant to a small tuft of leaves. A virus affects the leaves and fruit of the plant. There are thin, irregular, dark-green lines around the borders and clear areas around the veins. Affected leaves have an irregular and linear shape. Any stage of fruit maturity can be infected by the virus. Dark-green ringspots have been seen on fruits as young as two weeks old. Fruit rings can be found on either the stem end or the blossom end. As the disease develops, the rings become larger, consisting of one large ring instead of many closed circles in the early stages. Mosaic viruses have no mottling of colors on ripe fruit, while ringspot viruses do.
Fungi and oomycetes
Especially mature papaya fruits suffer from anthracnose fungus. Small water-soaked spots appear on ripening fruits at the beginning of the disease. Eventually, the spots turn brown or black and get bigger. There are some spots where the fungus produces pink spores. By growing into the fruit, the fungus turns the fruit soft and off-tasting.
It is easily recognized by a superficial white appearance on the leaf’s surface. A small, light yellow spot appears on the lower surfaces of the leaf as the disease spreads. There is white powdery growth on the leaves as the spots enlarge. White fungal growth is usually visible on the upper leaf surface. The severity of powdery mildew is low.
A fungus-like oomycete, Phytophthora causes damping-off, root rot, stem rot, stem girdling, and fruit rot. Young plants die from damping-off through wilting. White, water-soaked lesions appear at the fruit and branch scars of established plants. The spots grow and eventually cause death. Its most dangerous feature is its infection, which can be toxic. A severely and rapidly infected plant can also brown and wilt away, collapsing within days.
Pests Problem In Papaya Plants
There are probably 100 or more eggs laid by papaya fruit flies inside the fruit. The eggs hatch within 12 days, and the larvae begin feeding on the seeds and interior parts of the fruit. A larva, usually 16 days after hatching, eats its way out of the fruit, drops to the ground, pupates in the soil for one to two weeks, then emerges as an adult fly. After the papaya fruit fly infestation, the infected papaya turns yellow and drops to the ground.
There are two types of two-spotted spider mites: brown, orange-red, green, greenish-yellow, and translucent ovals. They feed by piercing plant tissue with their mouthparts, usually on the underside of plants, using needle-like piercing-sucking mouthparts. As the spider mites remove sap from the host plant, the mesophyll tissue collapses, causing a small chlorotic spot to form. Papaya fruit leaves turn yellow, gray, or bronze when they ripen. The spider mites can cause the fruit to die if they are not controlled.
There are yellow, oval eggs laid on the undersides of papaya leaves by papaya whiteflies. They damage papaya fruit by eating papaya leaves. As the eggs developed into flies, they went through three stages called instars. The first instar has well-developed legs and is the only immature life stage that is mobile. When crawlers find the lower surface of a leaf suitable, they insert their mouthparts into it and don’t move again. Next, the instars become flattened, oval, and scale-like. At their final stage, pupal whiteflies are more convex, with large, conspicuously red eyes.
The papaya is one of the most common hosts for fruit flies like A. insectivora. They lay their eggs in overripe papayas and spoiled papayas. When the larvae of these flies are ready to turn into pupae, they consume the fruit to gain nutrients. There are extensive economic costs associated with this parasitism for Central American nations.
Papaya Cultivation
The seeds of papaya were transported from the Caribbean to Malacca and then to India according to historical accounts from the 18th century. In Asia and the South Pacific region, papaya spread from Malacca or the Philippines. In the early 1800s, Francisco de Paula Marn, a Spanish explorer and horticulturist, brought papaya from the Marquesas Islands to Hawaii. Throughout the world, papaya cultivation has spread to all tropical countries and many subtropical regions. The popularity of papaya as a tropical fruit and its ability to adapt to various climates have made it widely grown around the world today.
There are three types of papaya plants: male, female, and hermaphrodite. There is no fruit produced by the male, only pollen. Without pollination, the female produces small, inedible fruits. Hermaphrodites are self-pollinating since their flowers contain both female ovaries and male stamens. The majority of commercial papaya orchards contain only hermaphrodites.
Originating in southern Mexico, Central America, northern South America, and southern Florida, papayas are now grown in most tropical countries. It grows rapidly in cultivation, fruiting within three years. However, it is highly frost-sensitive, so it can only be grown in tropical climates. Low temperatures of less than 2 degrees Celsius (29 degrees Fahrenheit) are extremely harmful, if not deadly. The growth of Florida, California, and Texas is generally limited to the southern parts of those states. It grows best in sandy, well-drained soil, as standing water can kill it in 24 hours.
Cultivars of the papaya
There are two types of papayas commonly grown. The red papaya has sweet, red, or orange flesh, and the yellow papaya has yellow flesh; these are called “red papaya” and “yellow papaw,” respectively, in Australia. Green papayas can be either kind, picked green.
A large-fruited, red-fleshed papaya called a ‘Maradol,’ a ‘Sunrise,’ and a ‘Caribbean Red’ is commonly grown in Mexico and Belize.
A Philippine research team announced in 2011 that they had developed papaya that was resistant to papaya ringspot virus (PRV) by hybridizing Papaya with Vasconcellea quercifolia. This is the latest in a long line of attempts to transfer resistance from Vasconcellea species into papaya.
Production of papaya
Approximately 13.8 million tonnes of papayas were produced in 2022, with 38% of the global total coming from India. A rise in production in India and a rise in demand from the United States contributed to a significant increase in global papaya production in the early 21st century. It is estimated that the United States imports more papayas than any other country.
Papaya orchards in South Africa yield up to 100 tonnes of fruit per hectare.
Toxicity of the papaya
If papayas aren’t ripe, they release a fluid called latex that may irritate and cause an allergic reaction in some people. Those who are sensitive to papain, which has been used to tenderize meat, may develop an allergic reaction.
Culinary use of the papaya
Usually, papayas are eaten raw without skin or seeds when they are ripe. Due to the latex content in unripe green fruit, the seeds are edible and have a sharp, spicy flavor. Black seeds are edible and have a sharp, spicy taste.
It is known that green papaya fruit and its latex contain papain, a cysteine protease that is commonly used to tenderize meat and other proteins by indigenous Americans, Caribbean people, Pacific Islanders, and Filipinos. The ingredient is found in some powdered meat tenderizers. As a result of papain’s enzymatic properties, papaya is not suitable for foods containing gelatin (such as jelly or aspic).
Nutrition of the papaya
There are 88% of water in raw papaya pulp, 11% of carbohydrates, and negligible amounts of fat and protein (table). Papaya fruit contains 43 kilocalories per 100 grams (3.5 ounces), is a significant source of vitamin C (69% DV) and a moderate source of folate (10% DV). It otherwise has a low level of micronutrients. References
