Performance of Papaya (Carica papaya) var. red lady in agro climatic zones of Assam

Abstract

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is a tropical fruit which can be cultivated successfully in subtropical conditions. The fruit has a high nutritional and medicinal value and rich in Vitamin A (2020IU/100g) making it very popular among the farmers of Assam. A study was conducted during 2019-2020 and 2020-21 on performance of Red Lady at farmers' field under rainfed conditions representing four agro climatic zones of Assam. The study revealed that the plant height was 281.27 cm tall with maximum fruit weight of 1.65 kg. Additionally, the fruit length, fruit diameter and fruit cavity diameter were found to be 19.22cm, 12.84 cm and 6.51 cm respectively with Yield per plant (40.72 kg), Yield per hectare (119.67 t/ha), B:C ratio (4.27) was found higher against the local varieties in all the locations. From the study, it can be inferred that the farmers may adopt Papaya var. Red lady over their local varieties for better yield and returns.