Currently, about three-quarters of all Hawaiian papayas are genetically modified to protect against Papaya Ringspot Virus (PRV).Īt their most basic, the papaya is a usually pear-shaped tropical fruit of a tree ( Carica papaya) in the Caricaceae family. The majority of papayas offered for sale in US supermarkets come from Hawaii or Mexico. In the United States Hawaii, Southern California, Florida, and Texas are the leading papaya producers. Slightly over 13 million tons of papayas are commercially grown every year, with India and Mexico leading the world in production. The papaya tree also will only thrive in well-drained loose, sandy soil even small amounts of standing water over the roots will often kill the tree within a day. The papaya tree is extremely sensitive to cold weather, and even very limited exposure to below freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit) temperatures are likely to kill a full-grown tree. Today, papayas are grown in pretty much every part of the world featuring tropical or subtropical climates which – not coincidentally – are the only places in which most of them will grow. From there the papaya made its way to Asia and eventually the rest of the world. Early Spanish traders are believed to have introduced the fruit though established trade routes to the Philippines in the late-16 th century. Uses: serves in halves and eaten with a spoon.Although it is often associated by many people with the beautiful, exotic tropical islands of the South Pacific, the papaya is actually believed to have originated in Southern Mexico and neighboring parts of Central America. Cibinong is an Indonesian variety with large red-fleshed fruit (2-3 kg) and grown mainly for its high papain yield.Cavite or Pineras is a Philippine variety with large, oblong fruit weighing 1.5 – 6 kg and thick, yellow to orange flesh. The fruit is quite susceptible to anthracnose. The fruit weighs 1-2 kg, is attractive with firm red flesh with 10-11 % total soluble solids content. Maradol originates fromCuba, is a short-stature variety that bears fruit very close to the ground. It is vigorous, bears red-fleshed fruit about 1.2 kg with 10.6% total soluble solids content. Khaegdam isThailand’s best known variety. There are also gynodioecious varieties that are cross-pollinated such as Khaek Dam, Maradol, Cibinong andCavite. Cariflora fruits are also yellow fleshed, but smaller and quite tolerant to the ringspot virus disease. The female fruits are yellow-fleshed and typically round. Hortus Gold fromSouth Africa, Sunnybank (Australia ) and Betty (Florida ,USA ) are very old varieties. In general, gynodioecious varieties (having hermaphrodite and female trees) are self or cross-pollinated, while the dioecious varieties (having male and female trees) are enforced cross-pollinators.ĭioecious varieties such as Hortus Gold, Sunnybank, Betty and Cariflora, which have male and female flowers on separate trees, are enforced cross-pollinators. Papaya varieties can be self or cross-pollinated. Recently, transgenic varieties were developed through biotechnology processes. Many were developed from systematic breeding programmes and while others were from selections made by growers. There are many distinct, true-breeding varieties in the world 4 today.