Comparative Growth Performance of Papaya Hybrids and their Parents under Reciprocal Crossing System

Abstract

Papaya is a very popular fruit in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world and has witnessed an increase in demand. This has fuelled an interest to develop region specific hybrids with desirable vegetative growth and vigour.  Hence a field experiment was carried out at College of horticulture and forestry, Navsari Agricultural University in Gujarat during 2018-2020 in randomized block design with three replications to know the mean performance of parents and hybrids for comparative growth performances of papaya. Wherein, thirty papaya hybrids were developed from six morphologically distinct parents through full diallel crossing technique and all the parents and hybrids were evaluated for their germination and growth parameters. The variability was distinct in all hybrids and parents for germination percentage, days taken to germination, periodical plant height and girth, number of leaves, petiole length and internodal distance. Amongst all the parents, Pusa Delicious, CO-8 and Lucknow Local exhibited improved germination, better vegetative growth and dwarf stature, respectively. Among the hybrids, Pusa Delicious x Lucknow Local was found to have dwarf stature with minimum internodal length however, the reciprocal cross: Lucknow Local x Pusa Delicious recorded maximum plant girth and number of leaves. Based on their mean performance, these parents can be used for further breeding programmes and hybrids could be exploited for cultivation.