Recent Developments in Papaya Breeding in the Philippines

The breeding and selection of papaya varieties in the Philippines started in the early 1980's resulting to the release of the hybrid 'Sinta' papaya moderately tolerant to PRSV in 1995. Very recently, the strategies for the development of papaya varieties have changed to address the needs of the changing markets. New breeding objectives were incorporated into the papaya breeding programme, and these were geared towards the development of industrial-type varieties that are suitable for latex/papain production for use in the manufacture of cosmetics and, processing-types that are red-fleshed and big- or small-fruited export types that are tolerant to papaya ringspot virus (PRSV). To date, 18 F1 hybrids from different crosses of highly inbred parents were generated. Out of these, three promising hybrids with suitable industrial criteria (bright red flesh, big-fruited, thick flesh)and fruit qualities (sweet, firm, high edible portion, pleasant flavour and aroma)plus tolerance to PRSV were identified. The hybrid of 'Kapoho' × 'Tainung' is better in terms of fruit weight (0.98 kg)and total soluble solids (TSS 12.94°B)compared with the better parent ('Tainung'), but the edible portion is intermediate (69.89