BEHAVIOR OF THREE PAPAYA GENOTYPES PROPAGATED BY GRAFTING IN BRAZIL

The tree growing parameters of papaya cv. Golden, cv. Sunrise Solo and hybrid Tainung 01 grafted on open pollinated ‘Tainung 01’ (F₂) seedlings and their respective seedlings were evaluated at Federal University of Goiás. The plants were subjected to analysis of variance for tree height, trunk diameter, leaf number and leaf central vein length which was recorded on monthly basis. Flower opening and height of the first fruit were registered in the grafted and ungrafted trees. Grafted trees were shorter in height, larger in trunk diameter and bigger in number of leaves and fruits, especially for grafted ‘Tainung 01’ ninety days after transplanting with tree height of 1.76 m, trunk diameter of 8.66 cm, nineteen leaves and six fruits in average. Flowering commenced thirty-five days after transplanting in grafted ‘Tainung 01’ compared with seventy days for ungrafted one. On the other hand, grafted ‘Solo’ type papaya (‘Golden’ and ‘Sunrise Solo’) started flowering forty days after transplanting compared with ninety days for ungrafted one. Height of the first fruit to set in grafted trees was 65.0, 71.4 and 76.1 cm, respectively, for ‘Tainung 01’, ‘Sunrise Solo’ and ‘Golden’ compared with 106.8, 117.8 and 115.9 cm, respectfully, for ungrafted ones. Grafted papaya trees did not show incompatibility between scion and rootstock and seemed to yield better than ungrafted trees.