Studies on grafting techniques in papaya (Carica papaya L.)

Papaya has long been grown and cultivated in the home gardens by the people of tropics and subtropics, as it adapts itself to diverse soil and climatic conditions. It is also one of the few fruits which flowers and fruits throughout the year, rendering quick returns to the growers. It is conventionally propagated from seeds and its cultivation is hindered by problems due to inherent heterozygosity and dioecious nature of the crop. In order to retain selected characteristics, vegetative propagation through grafting would be more favourable. Thus, by vegetative propagation, there is a possibility of maintaining the original characteristics of the parent plant apart from several advantages like higher yield, lower fruiting height, longer cropping span.