Sex determination of papaya plants derived from seed and micro-propagation

Abstract

Papaya has attained the status of ‘Super food’ with its inclusion in the daily dietary basket of people all around owing to its nutraceutical value. Being a polygamous species, determination of sex types in papaya proves to be a real challenging task. The aid of molecular techniques has been proved to be quick and reliable in identifying the sex types in plantlets growing in seedbed itself, which can save resources and time. The present study employed sex-linked DNA markers (sequence characterized amplified region or SCAR) to validate sex types in cv. Arka Surya and Inter-generic hybrid (IGH) seedlings and micropropagated plants of papaya before transplanting in the intended field. These markers were checked in gynodioecious genotypes, and the results manifested clear segregation of females from hermaphrodites. Findings derived from three years of in vitro maintained mother cultures were the same as those of mature papaya plants. In conclusion, the markers T12 and W11 were the potential markers to identify the sex of papaya at the seedling stage. The SCAR used in this study has shown the great implication in selecting sex forms of papaya for tissue-cultured plants.