1. Description

2. Origin and distribution

3. Cultivation
    Cultivars  Genetically engineered cultivars  Diseases and pests  Viruses  Fungi  Pests 

4. Production

5. Nutrition

6. Culinary uses
    Southeast Asia  South America  Meat tenderizing 

7. Phytochemicals

8. Traditional medicine

9. Allergies and side effects

10. Gallery

11. See also

12. References

13. External links

The papaya ({{IPAc-en|p|ə|ˈ|p|aɪ|ə}}, {{IPAc-en|US|p|ə|ˈ|p|ɑː|j|ə}}) (from Carib via Spanish), papaw ({{IPAc-en|p|ə|ˈ|p|ɔː}}^[2]) or pawpaw ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɔː|p|ɔː}}^[2])^[3] is the plant Carica papaya, one of the 22 accepted species in the genus Carica of the family Caricaceae.^[4] Its origin is in the tropics of the Americas, perhaps from southern Mexico and neighboring Central America.^[5]

Description

The papaya is a small, sparsely branched tree, usually with a single stem growing from {{convert|5|to|10|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall, with spirally arranged leaves confined to the top of the trunk. The lower trunk is conspicuously scarred where leaves and fruit were borne. The leaves are large, {{convert|50|-|70|cm|in|abbr=on}} in diameter, deeply palmately lobed, with seven lobes. All parts of the plant contain latex in articulated laticifers.^[7] Papayas are dioecious. The flowers are 5-parted and highly dimorphic, the male flowers with the stamens fused to the petals. The female flowers have a superior ovary and five contorted petals loosely connected at the base.^[6]{{rp|235}} Male and female flowers are borne in the leaf axils, the males in multiflowered dichasia, the female flowers is few-flowered dichasia. The flowers are sweet-scented, open at night and are moth-pollinated.^[7] The fruit is a large berry about {{convert|15|-|45|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|10|-|30|cm|in|abbr=on}} in diameter.^[7]{{rp|88}} It is ripe when it feels soft (as soft as a ripe avocado or a bit softer) and its skin has attained an amber to orange hue.

Origin and distribution

Cultivation

Papaya plants grow in three sexes: male, female, and hermaphrodite. The male produces only pollen, never fruit. The female produces small, inedible fruits unless pollinated. The hermaphrodite can self-pollinate since its flowers contain both male stamens and female ovaries. Almost all commercial papaya orchards contain only hermaphrodites.^[9]

Originally from southern Mexico (particularly Chiapas and Veracruz), Central America, and northern South America,^[5] the papaya is now cultivated in most tropical countries. In cultivation, it grows rapidly, fruiting within 3 years. It is, however, highly frost-sensitive, limiting its production to tropical climates. Temperatures below {{convert|29|F|C|order=flip}} are greatly harmful if not fatal. In Florida, California, and Texas, growth is generally limited to southern parts of the states. It prefers sandy, well-drained soil, as standing water will kill the plant within 24 hours.^[10]

Cultivars

Two kinds of papayas are commonly grown. One has sweet, red or orange flesh, and the other has yellow flesh; in Australia, these are called "red papaya" and "yellow papaw", respectively.^[11] Either kind, picked green, is called a "green papaya".

The large-fruited, red-fleshed 'Maradol', 'Sunrise', and 'Caribbean Red' papayas often sold in U.S. markets are commonly grown in Mexico and Belize.^[5][12]

In 2011, Philippine researchers reported that by hybridizing papaya with Vasconcellea quercifolia, they had developed conventionally bred, nongenetically engineered papaya resistant to papaya ringspot virus (PRV).^[13]

Genetically engineered cultivars

Diseases and pests

Viruses

The papaya mosaic virus destroys the plant until only a small tuft of leaves are left. The virus affects both the leaves of the plant and the fruit. Leaves show thin, irregular, dark-green lines around the borders and clear areas around the veins. The more severely affected leaves are irregular and linear in shape. The virus can infect the fruit at any stage of its maturity. Fruits as young as 2 weeks old have been spotted with dark-green ringspots about 1 inch in diameter. Rings on the fruit are most likely seen on either the stem end or the blossom end. In the early stages of the ringspots, the rings tend to be many closed circles, but as the disease develops, the rings will increase in diameter consisting of one large ring. The difference between the ringspot and the mosaic viruses is the ripe fruit in the ringspot has mottling of colors and mosaic does not.^[20]

Fungi

The fungus anthracnose is known to specifically attack papaya, especially the mature fruits. The disease starts out small with very few signs, such as water-soaked spots on ripening fruits. The spots become sunken, turn brown or black, and may get bigger. In some of the older spots, the fungus may produce pink spores. The fruit ends up being soft and having an off flavor because the fungus grows into the fruit.^[31]

The fungus powdery mildew occurs as a superficial white presence on the surface of the leaf in which it is easily recognized. Tiny, light yellow spots begin on the lower surfaces of the leaf as the disease starts to make its way. The spots enlarge and white powdery growth appears on the leaves. The infection usually appears at the upper leaf surface as white fungal growth. Powdery mildew is not as severe as other diseases.^[21]

The fungus phytophthora blight causes damping-off, root rot, stem rot, stem girdling, and fruit rot. Damping-off happens in young plants by wilting and death. The spots on established plants start out as white, water-soaked lesions at the fruit and branch scars. These spots enlarge and eventually cause death. The most dangerous feature of the disease is the infection of the fruit which may be toxic to consumers.^[31] The roots can also be severely and rapidly infected, causing the plant to brown and wilt away, collapsing within days.

Pests

The papaya fruit fly lays its eggs inside of the fruit, possibly up to 100 or more eggs.^[5] The eggs usually hatch within 12 days when they begin to feed on seeds and interior parts of the fruit. When the larvae mature usually 16 days after being hatched, they eat their way out of the fruit, drop to the ground, and pupate in the soil to emerge within one to two weeks later as mature flies. The infected papaya will turn yellow and drop to the ground after infestation by the papaya fruit fly.^[31]

The two-spotted spider mite is a 0.5-mm-long brown or orange-red or a green, greenish yellow translucent oval pest. They all have needle-like piercing-sucking mouthparts and feed by piercing the plant tissue with their mouthparts, usually on the underside of the plant. The spider mites spin fine threads of webbing on the host plant, and when they remove the sap, the mesophyll tissue collapses and a small chlorotic spot forms at the feeding sites. The leaves of the papaya fruit turn yellow, gray, or bronze. If the spider mites are not controlled, they can cause the death of the fruit.^[23]

The papaya whitefly lays yellow, oval eggs that appear dusted on the undersides of the leaves. They eat papaya leaves, therefore damaging the fruit. There, the eggs developed into flies in three stages called instars. The first instar has well-developed legs and is the only mobile immature life stage. The crawlers insert their mouthparts in the lower surfaces of the leaf when they find it suitable and usually do not move again in this stage. The next instars are flattened, oval, and scale-like. In the final stage, the pupal whiteflies are more convex, with large, conspicuously red eyes.^[23]

Production

In 2016, global production of papayas was 13.05 million tonnes, led by India with 44% of the world total (table). Global papaya production grew significantly over the early 21st century, mainly as a result of increased production in India and demand by the United States.^[24]

Nutrition

Raw papaya pulp contains 88% water, 11% carbohydrates, and negligible fat and protein (table). In a 100 gram amount, papaya fruit provides 43 kilocalories and is a significant source of vitamin C (75% of the Daily Value, DV) and a moderate source of folate (10% DV), but otherwise has low content of nutrients (see table).

Culinary uses

The ripe fruit of the papaya is usually eaten raw, without skin or seeds. The unripe green fruit can be eaten cooked, and is used as an ingredient in salads and stews. ^[5]

The black seeds of the papaya are edible and have a sharp, spicy taste.^[5] They are sometimes ground and used as a substitute for black pepper.

Southeast Asia

Green papaya is used in Southeast Asian cooking, both raw and cooked.^[25] In some parts of Asia, the young leaves of the papaya are steamed and eaten like spinach.

Papayas became a part of Filipino cuisine after being introduced to the islands via the Manila galleons.^[26][27] Unripe or nearly ripe papayas (with orange flesh but still hard and green) are julienned and are commonly pickled into atchara which is ubiquitous as a side dish to salty dishes.^[28] Nearly ripe papayas can also be eaten fresh as ensaladang papaya (papaya salad) or cubed, and eaten dipped in vinegar or salt. Green papaya is also a common ingredient or filling in various savory dishes like okoy, tinola, ginataan, lumpia, and empanada, especially in the cuisines of northern Luzon.^[29][30][31]

In Indonesian cuisine, the unripe green fruits and young leaves are boiled for use as part of lalab salad, while the flower buds are sautéed and stir-fried with chillies and green tomatoes as Minahasan papaya flower vegetable dish.

In Thai cuisine, papaya is used to make Thai salads such as som tam and Thai curries such as kaeng som when still not fully ripe.

South America

In Brazil, the unripe fruits are often used to make sweets or preserves.

Meat tenderizing

Both green papaya fruit and the plant's latex are rich in papain,^[5] a protease used for tenderizing meat and other proteins, as practiced currently by indigenous Americans, people of the Caribbean region, and the Philippines.^[5][32] It is now included as a component in some powdered meat tenderizers.^[5]

Phytochemicals

Papaya skin, pulp and seeds contain a variety of phytochemicals, including carotenoids and polyphenols,^[33] as well as benzyl isothiocyanates and benzyl glucosinates, with skin and pulp levels that increase during ripening.^[34] Papaya seeds also contain the cyanogenic substance prunasin.^[35]

Traditional medicine

In some parts of the world, papaya leaves are made into tea as a treatment for malaria, but the mechanism is not understood and no treatment method based on these results has been scientifically proven.^[36]

Allergies and side effects

Papaya releases a latex fluid when not ripe, possibly causing irritation and an allergic reaction in some people.^[5]

Gallery

See also

• Babaco
• Mountain papaya

References

External links

• California Rare Fruit Growers: Papaya Fruit Facts

• Operation Spark (disambiguation)
• Operation Spark (Disambiguation)
• Operation Sparrow
• Operation Sparrowhawk
• Operation Spartan Scorpian
• Operation Spartan Scorpion
• Operation Sparviero
• Operation Speedy Express
• Operation: Speedy Resolution
• Operations per second
• Operation Spider Web
• Operation: S.P.I.N.A.C.H./Operation: M.E.S.S.A.G.E.
• Operation Spirit
• Operations plan
• Operations planner
• Operations planners
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• Operation Sportpalast
• Operation Spring
• Operation Spring Clean-up
• Operation spring clean up
• Operation Spring Cleanup
• Operation Spring of Youth
• Operation: S.P.R.O.U.T./Operation: H.O.U.N.D.
• Operation Spy