STUDIES ON FRUIT SET AND GERMINATION IN SOME PAPAYA CULTIVARS

Papaya (Carica papaya) is an important fruit crop of tropical and subtropical regions in the world. It is polygamous and is a cross pollinated. It is one of the few fruit crops that flowers and fruits throughout the year giving early and steady returns. The present investigation was carried out at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore, India to assess fruit set, fruit maturity, number of seeds per fruit and germination percentage in the papaya cultivars ‘Sunrise Solo’ and ‘Washington’. Varied results were obtained for ‘Sunrise Solo’ and ‘Washington’. The study showed that the seed germination (63.33%) and fruit maturity (154 days) were early in the cultivar ‘Sunrise Solo’ compared to ‘Washington’. The percentage of fruit set (76.09%) was more in the case of cultivar ‘Sunrise Solo’ and germination percentage (63.33%) was also more compared to the cultivar ‘Washington’. Among the cultivars studied, ‘Sunrise Solo’ was observed to be the best for seed production compared to ‘Washington’.