Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is one of the most important tropical fruit crop that has wide acceptance as a commercial crop for local and export purposes. It is being climacteric, perishable in nature and have low shelf life hence needs an improvement in terms of quality with improved shelf life. Mutation breeding has been an effective approach to produce improved varieties with desirable traits. In fruit crops, mutation breeding is preferable over conventional breeding because it prevents segregating progenies while refining the genetic composition through selection cycles. TILLING-based mutagenesis was undertaken to induce the variability by irradiating the seeds of papaya cv. Arka Prabhath with gamma rays ranging from 50 to 500 Gy. The outstanding mutant lines were evaluated for improved biochemical traits. Results revealed that there was significant increase in biochemical traits such as total soluble solids, Ascorbic acid, sugars, total carotenoids and lycopene content among various selected twenty-one mutant lines in comparison to control Arka Prabhath while there was reduction in acidity of the fruits. The highest ascorbic acid content of 65.63 mg/100g was recorded in line R17P19 with excellent taste among selected M1 lines of papaya in contrast to control (33.13 mg/100g). Further, based on the estimation of fruit peel and pulp colour it was indicated that there was huge variation for pulp colour with delayed ripening. This indicates the efficacy of mutagen to induce variability in terms of fruit quality and shelf life.

Papaya, Arka Prabhath, mutation, pulp colour, shelf life

The results from the evaluation of putative mutant population indicates that gamma rays an effective tool to inducing mutation. It provides an opportunity to develop varieties with improved quality and taste with good biochemical composition. Considerable changes in the fruit peel and pulp colour was observed in this study which makes a way for developing attractive cultivars which are rich in antioxidants and it also meets the different market preferences with increased shelf life and delayed ripening.

Navya V. Bhat, Dinesh M.R., Vageeshbabu S. Hanur, Gobinda C. Acharya and D.V. Sudhakar Rao (2022). Evaluation of Putative Mutant Population of Papaya cv. Arka Prabhath for improved Biochemical Traits. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(4a): 723-728.