TC Papaya ‘DAWN DELIGHT’
‘DAWN DELIGHT’ is an elite selection of dwarf female papaya often giving roundish seedless fruits of about 750 g to 1.0 Kg, with outer orange-yellow color and firm red flesh with good keeping quality.
Dawn Delight plants are propagated exclusively through tissue culture. This is perhaps the first such micropropagated papaya line in the country and is characterized by the sole population of female plants unlike the conventional seed propagated papaya that shows the segregation to the female and male plants (dioecious), or female and hermaphrodite sex forms (gyno-dioecious). TC ‘Dawn Delight’ plants are supplied in company labeled polybags as genuine certified planting material from the company. The field plants are relatively dwarf, coming to flowering in 3-4 months after planting. The plant produces all female flowers which show parthenocarpic fruit set, often giving seedless fruits. With pollen sources in the vicinity, the fruits might show seed set. The first harvest is normally obtained 7-8 months after the field planting. It takes about 120 days (4 months) from fruit set to harvest. The fruits at maturity show orange streaks towards the base, which is the ideal stage for harvesting. The fruits show slow ripening taking 4-7 days for full ripening, and good keeping quality. With medium size fruits of < 1 Kg, this is a preferred papaya line for small and medium households. The seedless nature is a major attraction also adding aesthetic value and contributing to for extended shelf life and long-distance shipping.
