PRE-HARVEST BEHAVIOR OFPAPAYA GENOTYPES DURING THE SPRING IN THE CENTER OF VERACRUZ
Annotatsiya
Veracruz is the main supplier of papaya fruits, highly desired by Mexicans, it is grown in the center of the state. In Mexico, Creole and introduced papayas have been cultivated, however, most of them presented phytosanitary problems that restrict their production such as: virosis, anthracnose, mites, phytoplasmas, and high temperatures that cause damage to production; Due to the above, genetic strategies that consider wild accessions have been suggested. To address this problem, the objective of this work was to evaluate the behavior during preharvest of papaya genotypes grown in the center of Veracruz in relation to each other and to adverse environmental factors such as temperature. The research was carried out in the spring in commercial orchards located in the municipality of Cotaxtla, Ver. Four treatments were considered: T1= MSXJ Hybrid, T2= Maribel Variety, T3= Intenzza Hybrid, T4=H. Strength + Padded. The study variables were: plant height, number of leaves, height of the first floral bud, number of flowers, number of fruits, number of aborted flowers, number of aborted fruits, and number of fruits with carpeloidia. 24 plants per treatment were evaluated, the experimental unit was one plant. The data was taken from February to June, during the pre-harvest stage, to appreciate the effect of temperature on the genotypes. It was analyzed with a randomized block design and Tukey's mean test was performed. The months with the warmest temperatures, with their maximums above 33.0 C were: May and June. The damage of the temperatures during these months appeared in the flower abortion, fruit abortion and carpeloid damage, which affected the number of fruits of each genotype. In May, the greatest amount of carpeloidia and abortion in flowers occurred, in June the abortion in fruits. Due to their response to temperature, it is considered that the preharvest behavior of treatments 1 and 2 are equally competitive genotypes in papaya production in central Veracruz. Treatment 1 presented reduced effect due to temperatures.