Pawpaw (Carica papaya)
Pawpaw (Carica papaya) belongs to the caricaceae family, which contains over 22 species in the genus carica; it originates from the tropics of the Nigerians, sounthern part of the country, Americans, southern Mexico and neighboring Central America.
Pawpaw is a small, fast growing tree with a short life, it has a singly or sometimes sparsely branched stem growing from 5 to 10m in height , the stem is cylindrical, spongy, fibrous, loose, hollow, gray or gray brown in colour 10-30 cm diameter and toughened by large procumbent scars caused by fallen leaves and flowers. The leaves are alternate, bundled at the top between stem and branches, long petioles; widely evident, 25-75 cm diameter, and smooth, moderately palm shape with middle irradiant veins, the bundle of leaves is dark green to yellow green.
The fruit is a melon-like, oval to nearly round, somewhat pyriform, or elongated club shaped, 6 to 20 in (15-50cm) long and 4 to 8 in (10-20cm) thick; the skin is waxy and thin but fairly tough. When the fruit is green and hard it is rich in white latex. As it ripens, it becomes light or deep yellow externally and the thick wall of succulent flesh becomes aromatic, yellow, orange or various shades of salmon or red. It is then juicy, sweetish and somewhat like a cantaloupe in flavor, in some cases.
VARIETIES
There are many strains and varieties of pawpaw fruit and the variation in size, form and colour is great.
a. Typical maradol
b. Wax pawpaw
c. Sunrise solo
d. Mountain pawpaw
e. Red royale f1 Kamiya (Hawaii)
f. Mexican Red (Mexico)
g. JS.22
h. Pink solo
i. Kapoho solo
Popular varieties in Nigeria include, large maradol, JS.22, pink solo and red royale.
CULTIVARS
Some of the major growing pawpaw cultivars and there producing countries:
a. JS.22
b. Typical maradol,
c. Pink solo,
d. Kapoho solo
e. Red Royale f1 (Thailand)
All the cultivars listed above are cultivated successfully Nigeria, red royale f1 and large maradol however, are the most cultivated species.
CULTIVATION
Pawpaw are well adapted to many soil types (Fig. 11 Soil type for Pawpaw), like to be warm with both sunshine and reflected heat, so the hottest place against the house where nothing else seems happy is an ideal location. Pawpaw needs a light, well-drained soil. They are easily killed by excess moisture; it does not tolerate salty water or soil.
Weeding is done manually or mechanically but deep soil disturbance is critical to the root system. It is advisable to use polythene bag on the surface to avoid weed growth.
The seeds retain viability for 2-3 years and are sown in nursery (boxes or frames) during January or in the open in March, early planting is good for the plant. The seed germinates within 2-3 weeks when 2 or 3 true leaves are visible, the seedling should be transplanted.
Spacing is usually 5-7.5cm apart, when plant is 7.5-10m tall they are taken to the permanent site in the field with a spacing of 3-4m apart having a limit of 1750 trees per hectare. Transplants should be watered with shades also mulching gives better result.
PEST AND DISEASES
As with most fruit, pawpaw is faced with several disease attack when proper control measures are not been applied appropriately.
Some of these notorious pests include:
i. Fruit fly – Toxotrypana curvicauda ; the eggs deposited on the fruit turns to larva causing spoilage on the fruit
ii. Pawpaw webworm - Homolapalpia dalera
iii. Tiny pawpaw whitefly - Trialeurodes variabilis
iv. Hornworms - Erinnyis obscura
v. red spider mite - Tetranychus seximaculatus
Major diseases seen in pawpaw include:
i. Anthracnose: Characteristics of this disease includes small black or light brown spots on the fruit that gradually grows due to long term periods of storage in a humidity surrounding. This can be checked by pre-harvest sprays, containing 0.05% of thiobenzoic solution.
ii. Ringspot virus disease: This limits product
For export or supply of Pawpaw (carica papaya), click the link: https://yffpinline.blogspot.com/2018/06/blog-post.html?m=1
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