Performance, character correlation, and nutritional composition of papaya (Carica papaya L.) lines in Edo State of Nigeria

Papaya is one of the major fruit crops of the tropical regions of the world. However, despite its importance as a horticultural crop, there is a dearth of information on the performance and morphological diversity of the papaya species. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance, character correlation and nutritional composition of several papaya lines. Whole fruits of papaya were collected from home gardens and Uselu market in Benin City Metropolis. The seeds obtained from the fruits were planted in the Teaching and Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria in October 2011. Seeds were sown in drills 4 m long in an experimental plot. The papaya plantings were gradually and finally thinned to 3 plants per row spaced at 2 m between rows and 2 m within rows. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in morphological and fruit characters among the 10 accessions of papaya evaluated. However, the fresh fruit weight, fresh fruit yield per plant and fresh fruit yield per hectare varied from 0.6-1.7 kg, 3.0-30.3 kg and 8.2-84.0 t ha(-1) respectively. Most of the morphological and fruit characters had positive and significant correlations. The nonsignificant difference observed in morphological and fruit characters can be attributed to low genetic diversity within the papaya accessions. However, the significant genetic variability in the fruit pulp of the papaya accessions for moisture content, dry matter, carbohydrate, fat, crude fibre, ash, P, Ca, Mg, and vitamin C implies that selection gains can be achieved with these traits.