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PapayaCarica papaya | Familiy: Caricaceae

Description:Both green papaya fruit and the tree‘s latex are rich in papain, a protease used for ten-derizing meat and other proteins. Its abi-lity to break down tough meat fibers was used for thousands of years by indigenous Americans. It is now included as a com-ponent in powdered meat tenderizers. The latex of the plant contains rubber and protein decomposing enzymes papain and chymopapain. It is drawn from the bark and unripe fruit and officially used for in-digestion problems and for the industrial use to treat wool and silk.

Fruit: The fruit is a berry. The fruit of papayas is high in vitamin C. You can also pick the fruit when it is green and cook it like a marrow. Papaya flower bud can be cooked as vegetable.

Medicine:In some parts of the world, papaya leaves are made into tea as a treatment for ma-laria.

Native: To Central and northern South America

Cultivars:Two kinds of papayas are commonly grown. One has sweet, red or orange flesh, and the other has yellow flesh.

Sowing:Growing papayas from seeds. It is easy to grow the ordinary papaya tree from seed. Wash the seeds from a ripe papaya. Squee-ze the seeds from the jelly bag that covers each seed. The seeds will only grow if you

remove the bag. Dry them in a shady pla-ce. Store in a tightly closed container and keep them until December. Plant the seeds in December. Put 5 seeds to a hole. Do not put any compost or manure into the holes. Keep the small plants moist. Seedling pa-payas do not transplant well. Plant them in large containers so the seedlings will have to be transplanted only once, when they go into the ground. Transplant carefully, making sure not to damage the root ball. You can only tell which trees are female and which are male when the trees start to flower. Therefore, you should always have more than one tree per hole, because then you can select the female trees.

Water:Papayas need little water. They will, howe-ver, give more and bigger fruit if they are watered every 2 weeks in the dry season.

The flowers will drop if they do not get enough water. If they are planted in clay soils, make sure that the soil does not stay too wet. To avoid waterlogging in clay soil, make a ridge and plant the papayas on the ridge. Watering is the most critical aspect in raising papayas. The plants should be kept on to the dry side to avoid root rot, but also need enough water to support their large leaves

Climate:Papayas grow best in hot areas. The frost-sensitive plants can be grown at 1500 m at the equator to heights mild frost if they are protected from cold winds. Papay-as like to be warm with both sunshine and reflected heat, so the hottest place against the house where nothing else seems happy is an ideal location. They also like to be as free from wind as possible, although this is not as critical as their need for sun. Papay-as can be grown successfully in shade, but the fruit is rarely sweet.

Soil:Papaya trees are very, very hungry. That means they need very good soil, rich in organic matter and nutrients a good mix of compost soil. Papayas need a light, well-drained soil. They are easily killed by excess moisture. Do not cover the stem with soil because it will rot.

Fertilisation:Compost or manure. Give the tree: 1 bu-cketful September, November, January. Sprinkle a few handfuls of manure evenly around the tree each month from Septem-ber to the end of March. Phosphorus de-ficiency casuses dark green foliage with a

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img: biology.stackexchange.com

img: yago1.com

Source: web; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaya, www.nda.agric.za, www.crfg.org, book; Taschenlexikon tropischer Nutzpflanzen und ihrer Früchte

Water: Little

Sun: Hot

Challenge: Root rot, by to much water

Substratum: Light, well-drained soil, compost mix

Fertilisation: Every month

Temp.: Hot climate

Companion: -

Non-Companion: -

Spacing: between plant 1,5 m, between rows 3 - 4 m

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reddish-purple discoloration of leaf veins and stalks. NB: Do not apply chicken ma-nure on trees younger than 2 years as it can burn the young papaya trees.

Cut:You can cut the tree (remove top) so that it does not grow too tall.

Harvesting:Harvesting all year. You can pick the fru-it when the skin starts to become yellow. The fruit will ripen after you have picked it. Handle it carefully because it gets bru-ised easily.

Sexes: Female; bigger, closer to the branch than the male flowers (produce inedible fru-its unless pollinated), male; (pollen) very small, there are many flowers which grow on long branches of the stem. Only female trees give fruit but they need male flowers to pollinate them. Leave 1 male tree for 10 female trees and hermaphrodite (male and female on one plant; can self-pollinate).

Viruses: Papaya ringspot virus; One of the biggest effects that viral infections have on papaya is the taste. As of 2010, the only way to protect papaya from this virus is genetic modification.papaya mosaic virus; The difference bet-ween the ringspot and the mosaic viruses is the ripe fruit in the ringspot has mott-ling of colors and mosaic does not.

Fungi: Anthracnose; The fruit ends up being soft and having an off flavor because the fun-gus grows into the fruit.Powdery mildew; superficial white presen-ce on the surface of the leaf in which it is easily recognized.Phythphthora blight; causes damping-off, root rot, stem rot, stem girdling, and fruit rot. Damping-off happens in very young plants by wilting and death in plant. The most dangerous feature of the disease is the infection of the fruit because it cause harm to people who consume it.

Pests: Papaya fruit fly; is mainly yellow with black marks. Long, slender eggs are laid inside of the fruit by the female papaya fruit fly. The papaya will turn yellow and drop to the ground if it is infected by the papaya fruit fly. Two-spotted spider mite; is a 0.5-mm-long brown or orange-red or a green, greenish yellow translucent oval pest. Usually on the underside of the plant. If the spider mites are not control-

led, they can cause the death of the fruit. Whitefly; lays yellow, oval eggs that appe-ar dusted on the undersides of the leaves. They eat the papaya fruits leaves, therefore damaging the fruit.

Food-facts:Helps aid digestionCompounds found in papayas help to bre-ak down and use proteins properly; spe-cifically papain helps to break apart the bonds between amino acids. Papain is si-milar other types of enzymes made in the pancreas that help our bodies digest meat. But, these enzymes need acid for activati-on and papain can work even without the presence of acid.Anti-inflammatoryPapaya may help reduce inflammation for people with inflammatory medical con-ditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Pa-pain has also been shown to help reduce inflammation in people with disease such as asthma or arthritis and can help reduce inflammation in the prostate aging.Strengthens bloodThere is much in interest in the use of pa-paya as a blood strengthener to help peo-ple who have a medical condition called thrombocytopenia, or low blood platelets. This is a dangerous medical condition that can reduce the body‘s clotting ability and potentially lead to internal bleeding.Benefits cardiovascular healthVitamin C has been shown to help reduce the risk of heart attacks by helping pro-tect the arteries against damage. It may help reduce free radical damage and the oxidation of cholesterol, reducing the abi-lity of cholesterol to form plaques along the artery walls. Folate also helps convert a substance linked to heart attacks called homocysteine into other benign amino acids, reducing risk of a cardiovascular event.Helps prevent cancerPapain, since it is able to breakdown proteins, may be able to help attack the protective coating found on cancer cells, preventing their growth. Vitamin C and beta-carothene, both found in papaya, have been linked to a decrease risk of cancer, especial-ly colon cancer. Prevents macular degeneration The flavonoids lutein and ze-axanthin can help prevent macular degeneration, an age-related loss of vision. Zeaxanthin

specifically helps filter out blue light that can be harmful to the retina.Prevents Asthma Beta-carotene has been shown to help re-duce the risk of asthma. Vitamin A levels are specially critical for children to help reduce airway inflammation levels. Protects against arthritisA 2004 study found that people with diets low in vitamin C, and therefore low in fruits and vegetables, had a three times greater risk of developing polyarthritis, and inflammatory condition that affects multiple joints. Vitamin C is also protective against other types of inflammatory conditions such as gout. This powerful vitamin has been found to lower C-reactive protein, a com-mon marker of inflammation. Anti-viralPapaya leaves have been used treat den-gue fever, a deadly viral infection from mosquitos in tropical areas. You can also make a poultice form the skin, and apply it to heal burns, rashes, or bug bites. Pa-pain can be used to treat fungal and vi-ral infections of the skin, such as warts or ringworm.Intestinal Worms & Papaya- The seeds of papaya too possess medicinal properties. They are very good in treating intestinal worms in the body.Morning Sickness & Papaya- In pregnant ladies, regular consumption of a small slice of papaya helps to cure nausea and morning sickness.Shampoos & Papaya- Shampoos cont-aining papaya are very good to control dandruff.Menstrual Irregularities & Papaya- It helps in controlling the menstrual irregularities in women. Papaya helps to ease menstru-al cramps and helps in promoting regular flow of menstruation.

PreservationClean the black seeds and dry them and they make a slightly bitter substitute for black pepper. Frequently they are used in salad dressings and soups.

Source: web; draxe.com/papaya, www.medindia.net, preservenation.blogspot.com

Papaya Fruit; 100g contains:Minerals mgSodium 8.00 Potassium 180.00Magnesium 21.00 Calcium 20.00 Manganese 00.04Iron 00.25 Copper 00.045 Zinc 00.08Phosphorus 10.00 Selenium 00.006

Vitamins mg Vitamin A 0.047 Vitamin B1 0.023 Vitamin B2 0.027 Vitamin B3 0.357 Vitamin B5 0.191 Vitamin B6 0.038 Folate 0.037 Vitamin E 0.300 Vitamin C 60.90