Abstract
Papaya is one of the most important fruits crops of Kenya. However, in the recent past, papaya productivity and quality have been limited by lack of high quality seeds. Most producers depend on farmer selected and imported seeds for propagation. However, this is not satisfactory since few farmers can afford imported seeds due to their high price. On the other hand, most of the farmer selected seeds give rise to trees with inferior fruit quality and are susceptible to diseases. The above mentioned challenges necessitated the development of new Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) papaya lines with superior qualities to help boost fruit production. So far, the new JKUAT papaya has been evaluated only at JKUAT main campus in Kiambu County. This study evaluated the performance of newly developed JKUAT papaya lines (Line 1, 5, 6 and 7) in different agro-ecological zones of Kenya. The study sites were JKUAT (upper midlands zone), Nkubu (upper highlands zone), KALRO Mwea (upper midlands zone) and Mitunguu irrigation scheme (upper highlands zone). The results on morphological, fruiting and biochemical quality showed significant differences. The total number of fruits varied significantly where line 1 had the lowest number (84 fruits) in JKUAT and the highest number was recorded in line 5 (134 fruits) in KALRO, Mwea. The fruit weight varied significantly and ranged from 1.2 kg in line 5 in JKUAT to 2 kg in line 7 in KALRO Mwea. The total soluble solids (TSS) varied significantly from 8.3% in line 7 in KALRO Mwea to 13.7% in line 5 from Nkubu. The results revealed that new lines had good productivity and they should be commercialized in Kenya. However, there is a need to determine the performance of the newly developed papaya lines under heat and water stress conditions. Key words: Agro-ecological zones, fruit quality, fruit yield, morphology, papaya lines.
Highlights
Fruit production represents an important part of the agricultural industry and it contributes to income generation, food and nutritional security (FAOSTAT, 2018)
The study was conducted in four different locations namely, KALRO Mwea, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Nkubu and Mitunguu irrigation scheme that lie in two different agro-ecological zones (Upper Midlands and Upper Highlands)
Solo sunrise recorded the highest plant height in three zones, KALRO Mwea (197.3 cm), Mitunguu irrigation scheme (167.8 cm) and Nkubu (128.0 cm), while line 7 recorded the highest height of 109.7 cm at JKUAT
Summary
Fruit production represents an important part of the agricultural industry and it contributes to income generation, food and nutritional security (FAOSTAT, 2018). The major producing countries invest heavily on hybrid seeds to achieve high quality and yield Another challenge is that there is genetic erosion of desired characteristics from time to time due to the open pollinated nature of papaya which decreases varietal purity from one generation to the other. In an attempt to minimize on the afore-mentioned challenges, a team of breeders at JKUAT developed new JKUAT papaya lines with superior fruit quality, dwarf stature and resistant to viral infections. These lines were evaluated at JKUAT and showed superior morphological and fruit quality characteristics (Nishimwe et al, 2019).
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