Morphologic and Molecular Evaluation of Papaya Strains (Carica papaya L.) Under Mediterranean Conditions

Abstract

Papaya is high in nutrients, delicious flavours, and potent antioxidants like lycopene; all of these bio constituents may reduce the risk of a variety of ailments, particularly those associated with ageing, such as heart disease and cancer. The papaya (Carica papaya L.) despite having a lengthy farming history and important germplasm, little is known about its genetic basis and variety. In response to environmental changes, the results of papaya strain diversity show variation in yield, vegetative traits, morphological characteristics of flowers, fruits, and leaves. To characterise the genetic assessment, morphological, agronomical traits, and an inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) molecular marker were studied across 9 papaya strains. For the past three decades, DNA Molecular markers have been used. The DNA contours provide data on the strains, display the entire genome, and showing difference in both the encrypting and non-encrypting regions, as well as polymorphism. A mix of morphologic, chemical, and molecular characteristics of papaya strains can be used to well measure the degree of variety and correlation among papaya strains. The primers UBC812 and UBC825 performed the best for identifying and estimating the diversity of papaya accessions, followed by UBC864, UBC809, UBC811 and HB-13. The 9 papaya strains were classified into two clusters using UPGMA cluster analysis and a similarity coefficient obtained from ISSR markers. Among the nine papaya strains, the pair S3 and S7 had the highest similarity (0.97). The morphological characteristics are similar to molecular analysis. This work provided a quick and steadfast method for estimating variability among different Papaya strains, which breeders could use to improve papaya.