MICROPROPAGATION OF EKSOTIKA, A MALAYSIAN PAPAYA CULTIVAR, AND THE FIELD PERFORMANCE OF THE TISSUE CULTURE DERIVED CLONES

Papaya is normally planted by seed. This results in variation of productivity, quality and shape of fruit. Six elite Eksotika plants were chosen from the seed-derived population, based on high productivity and uniform quality fruit. Plantlets were produced by an in vitro method that consisted of three stages. The first stage involved the production of multiple shoots from the axillary buds of the selected mature mother plants by culturing the explants in a multiplication medium supplemented with 6-benzylaminopurine, casein hydrolysate and riboflavin. Individual shoots were separated from the multiple shoots and underwent shoot elongation in the second stage, by culturing in medium containing N6-isopentenyladenine. This was followed by rooting of the elongated shoots and acclimatization of the rooted plantlets before transfer to the field. Field data indicated that these six papaya clones yielded uniform and high quality fruit similar to that of their mother plants. Within the same clones, there was little variation in terms of height, number, weight and shape of fruit and sugar content in the fruit.