Recent advances in breeding of papaya

Papaya is conventionally bred through inbreeding by pedigree or backcross methods. This requires more than 6 generations to homogenize alleles for a particular trait. There is need to seek alternative breeding techniques to shorten the breeding cycle of this crop. Anther culture is such an alternative because it gives rise to homozygous plants in one generation. Anther culture has been believed to be an unrealized potential tool for papaya breeding due to low embryo induction rates in previous studies. Contrary to this popular belief, this book reports the stepwise development of female papaya from anther culture to agronomic evaluation of the regenerated plants in the greenhouse. Parthenocarpic ability of selected papaya varieties and induction of parthenocarpy artificially is also enumerated. Thus, the anther culture technique can be practically applied in the breeding of female papaya. This book reports on information that will revive research interest in the study of genetics and breeding of fruit crops. It is particularly useful for plant breeders, biotechnologists and physiologists.