46 Papaya
were smooth, yellow, rounded-oval, 1.5 kg in weight, thick-fleshed, of excellent
flavour and prized for marketing fresh and for canning. It produced better fruits
than either of its parents, and remained a preferred cultivar for more than 20 years.
‘Solo’ and ‘Hortus Gold’ are often grown but most plantations are open-pollinated
mixtures.
Cedro: This is dioecious, rarely bisexual, a heavy bearer and highly resistant to
anthracnose. The fruits weigh from 1.5–3.5 kg averaging 2.5 kg; have firm, yellow,
melon-like flesh and are suitable for fresh sale or for processing.
Singapore Pink: In this variety, the plants are mainly bisexual, producing cylin-
drical fruits. The minority are female with round fruit. Average weight of fruits is
2.27 kg though they vary from 1.0 to 3.0 kg. The flesh is pink. The fruit surface is
prone to anthracnose in rainy season, so the fruits, at such times, must be picked and
sold in the green state. Two smaller-fruited types, 1.0–1.5 kg in weight, with bright-
yellow skin and thick, firm flesh were selected for marketing fresh.
Cariflora: This is a new cultivar developed at the University of Florida, Homestead.
It is nearly round, about the size of a cantaloupe (musk melon), with thick, dark-yel-
low to light-orange flesh; tolerant to papaya ringspot virus, but not resistant to papaya
mosaic virus or papaya apical necrosis virus. Yield is good in southern Florida and
warm lowlands of tropical America but not at elevations above 2625 ft (800 m).
Sunrise Solo: This was formerly known as HAES 63-22 and introduced from
Hawaii into Puerto Rico. The fruit has pink flesh with high total solid content. In
Puerto Rican trials, seeds were planted in mid-November, seedlings were trans-
planted in the field 2 months later, flowering occurred in April and mature fruits
were harvested from early August to January. The selections from Puerto Rican
breeding programmes are ‘P.R. 6-65’ (early), ‘P.R. 7-65’ (late), and ‘P.R. 8-65’.
UH Rainbow: This is a new hybrid developed at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
‘UH Rainbow’ combines the superior quality typical of Hawaii’s ‘Solo’ papayas
with excellent resistance to a devastating plant virus disease-papaya ringspot virus
(PRSV). This combination of traits was accomplished through genetic engineering,
one of the latest advances in agricultural biotechnology. ‘UH Rainbow’ is F 1 (first-
generation) hybrid produced by crossing Hawaii’s standard export variety, ‘Kapoho’
with the first genetically engineered papaya possessing resistance to PRSV, ‘UH
SunUp’. The resulting hybrid is an excellent source of vitamins A and C and is highly
productive. The fruits are pear shaped (with short neck) to elliptical, 650 g fruit
weight, yellow orange flesh colour, TSS 12-16° Brix, uniform and juicy texture and
mild aroma. The fruit is ready to eat when it is 70%–90% yellow.
In India, papaya breeding and selection work has been carried on for over 30
years beginning with 100 introduced strains and 16 local variations (Table 2 .3).
A well-known cultivar is ‘Coorg Honeydew’, a selection from ‘Honeydew’ at
Chethalli Station of the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bangalore
(Karnataka). There are no male plants; female and bisexual plants occur in equal
proportions. The plant is low-bearing and prolific. The fruit is long to oval, weighs
ranging from 2.0 to 3.5 kg and possesses yellow flesh with a large cavity.
‘Washington’, popular in Bombay, has dark-red petioles and yellow flowers. The
fruits are of medium size with excellent, sweet flavour. ‘Burliar Long’ is a prolific
variety, bearing as many as 103 fruits in the first year, mostly in pairs densely packed