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fRuit with cuRRent and potencial impoRtance in chiapas

Papaya (Carica papaya L.)

Botany: The papaya belongs to the family Caricaceae, native for the most part to the Ameri-

can tropics. There are approximately 25 species of Carica, but C. papaya, which grows in the

lowland tropics, is of the greatest economic importance and another species, C. pubescens

(= C. candamar-censis), grown in the Andean highlands, is consumed to some degree.
Fruit of the common papaya (C. papaya) is a good source of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), calcium

and phosphorus, lysine and tryptophan, and also contains iron, carotene, riboflavin, niacin and

methionine (Morton 1989).

Papaya plants can be male (bearing no fruits), hermaphroditic, or female. When flowers

of female plants are pollinated by pollen from hermaphrodites, all resultant seedlings will bear

fruit, whereas pollen from male plants applied to flowers of females will produce half fruitful

(female) and half unfruitful (male) seedlings (Storey, 1969). Nocturnal moths make most pa-

paya pollinations.

Economic importance: world papaya production increased in a 44-year period from 1.3
million mt in 1961 to 6.7 million mt in 2005. Mexico’s production during that period increa-

sed from 2.7% of the world total in 1961 to 14.2% in 2005. Mexico’s share of total world

production increased more or less steadily from 1961 until 1985, when it equaled 21.0%, af-

terward dropping to 6.7% in 1993, then rising to 12-14% of world production in subsequent

years (Knight, 2006). Papaya fruit produced in Mexico is consumed locally and is exported to

neighboring countries, notably the U.S. and Canada. Most papaya production is from seed-

grown plants. Cultivars have been selected and named in various countries, but in many areas
fruit is grown on unnamed seedlings, and some named cultivars that were grown in the past

Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas