ABSTRACT

India and Brazil alone produce approximately 60% of world production. The area cultivated with papaya and world production have grown systematically over the last 20 years, with the biggest growth in production, which has translated into increased crop productivity. The international demand for the fruit is highly concentrated, and in the last 20 years, the United States alone has consumed almost 55% of all the fruit commercialized in the world, with Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Canada among the most important destinations for papaya. Papaya fruit is a berry that can vary widely in both size and shape. Pear-shaped and cylindrical fruits are typical of hermaphrodite plants, while female plants produce rounder fruit. Papaya fruit development can be divided into three phases, based on the principal physiological processes taking place, characterized as growth, ripening, and senescence. Growth is defined as the development phase in which irreversible increases in the physical attributes of the fruit, such as weight and volume, occur.