Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Small farmers and backyard gardeners. Changes/Problems:Severe drought impacted growth and production. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information and seeds were made available at the nannual territirial Ag Fair. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Complete the research and write results. Make seeds available to farmers.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Papayas stroggled in a severe drought year where water was a limiting factor.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Pascal, T., T.W. Zimmerman. 2016. Papaya Growth: Comparison over four non-consecutive generations. UVI Research Day Proceedings. 5:8.
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Progress 10/01/11 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Local Virgin Island fruit farmers, backyard gardeners, UVI Cooperative Extension Service, VI Dept. of Agriculture and St George Village Botanical gardens. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information has been provided to the community through guest appearances on Agriculture-related radio shows. This provided call-in questions to be answered.as well as questions posed by the host moderator. At the annual Ag Fair, information table was provided and questions answered on papaya production. Papaya seed were also made available to interested growers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Using a complete fertilizer with equal levels of NPK versus no supplemental Potassium had no influence on Papaya production on calcareous soils. Calcareous soils have a high natural level of Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium which is readily available to the plant. A complete fertilizer is more readily available to growers then a fertilizer lacking Potassium. The additional Potassium in the fertilizer had no positive or negative influence on papaya growth and production. Iron did have a positive influence on papaya production when applied through fertigation. Because of the high pH soils, 6% Fe-EDDHA, Sequestrene 138, controlled interveinal chlorosis while Fe-EDTA, Sequestrene 330, had no influence in controlling interveinal chlorosis. Additional Zinc, applied as Zinc Sulphate had no influence on papaya production. Using the drip irrigation and injecting soluble fertilizer to the papayas, fertigation, is best when applied at three-week intervals during growth and production. A complete soluble fertilizer and Fe-EDDHA is recommended to all papaya growers on calcareous soils.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Bernier, J., C. Montilla, T.W. Zimmerman. 2013. Influence of Papaya seed age on viability. 49th Caribbean Food Crops Society. 49:129-133.
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Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Local farmers, backyard gardeners, Cooperative Extension Service, VI Dept. of Agriculture, local Botanical gardens, tropical fruit growers Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Farmers were invited to tour the papaya plots during growth and production. Seeds of papaya were made available to farmers and backyard gardeners. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?During the Annual Food Day in October, papaya was a featured fruit crop. A workshop was presented and papaya seedlings were given to participants.I was also a guest on the local radio station and discussed papaya growing and production practices. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Prject is terminating but seed collection and distribution will continue.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Calcareous soils have a natural high levels of calcium and magnesium with a pH 8.0-8.5. . Supplimenting potasium through liquid fertigation had no influence production. The mineral potassium levels in the calcareous soils was adequate to support papaya production. Adding additional fertilizer in a complete fertilizer or as potash individually from 50, 100 or 300 lb/acre did not have a significant effect on papaya production or fruit quality. Due to the high pH of calcareous soils, iron is limitind and needs to be applied in a form that the papaya is able to access.. Chelated iron as Fe-EDDHA was available the papaya to absorb through the roots. and controls chloroosis when applied in fertigation at a rate of 2-5 lb/acre. The chelated form FE-EDTA had no effect controlling chlorosis at 5, 10 or 20 lb/acre when applied through fertigation. Not only where the plants healthier when Fe-EDDHA applied but also had significantly more and larger fruit then Fe-EDTA applied chelatediron. Zinc sulfate had no influence on papaya plant health or production when applied at 2, 5 0r 10 lb/acre through fertigation.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Pascal, T., T.W. Zimmerman. 2016. Papaya Growth: Comparison over four non-consecutive generations. UVI Research Day Proceedings. 5:8.
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Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience is local farmers in the US Virgin Islands as well as backyard gardeners and homeowners with an interest in growing papaya. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Workshops were conducted on both St Croix and St Thomas on papaya production which included hands-on activities. Workshop participants were provided papaya seedlings to take home and grow in their garden. Follow-up indicated that had harvestable papaya six months following the workshop. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Since the potassium study has now been completed, duing the next reporting period papayas will be re-established to study the influence of iron and zinc on papaya growth and production. Both iron and zinc are at low levels in the calcareous soils found on St Croix.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Because papaya is a multiyear crop, normally 1 - 1.5 years in the USVI, data continued to be collected during through June of 2014. The calcareous soils at the Agricultural Experiment Station contain a naturally high level of potassium and calcium.The addition of potassium at either 75 or 150 lb/acre had no effect on the production of the fourpapaya varieties and two hybrids evaluatedafter one year of production. Papaya growth, fruit set and production are not influenced by the additional application of potassium to papaya grown on calcareous soils with naturally occuring high levels of potassium.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Pascal, T, TW Zimmerman. 2014. Evaluating Papaya Fruit Quality. 12th Annual Spring Student Research Symposium. 12:36.
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Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Local farmers and back yard gardeners in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? UVI Cooperative Extension Service, V I Department of Agriculture, Farmers Cooperative. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The papaya (Carica papaya) is a popular fruit that originated in the South America and the Caribbean. The size and fruit quality are key factors in the development of papaya varieties. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the influence of potassium fertilization on fruit quality through the measurement of fruit length, width, weight, soluble sugar content, flesh thickness, and flesh color. Potassium fertilizer was applied at 0, 75 or 150 lb/acre and replicated across 3 blocks . The varieties used were ‘Maradol’, ‘TW’, ‘Tainung 5’and ‘UVI’. The hybrids used were ‘Maradol’ x ‘Yong Nong’ and ‘TW’ x ‘Tainung 5’. Fruit data was collected for seven months for evaluation. The potassium fertilizer treatment significantly influenced fruit size for ‘Maradol’, ‘TW’ and ‘UVI’ and fruit length and width for ‘TW’ and ‘UVI’. The potassium level only significantly affected the soluble sugar content of ‘UVI’ fruit. The influence of potassium on papaya fruit quality on calcareous soils naturally high in potassium is variety specific. Most papaya varieties are able to produce quality fruits on calcareous soils without supplemental potassium. Papaya (Carica papaya) has a gelatinous sarcotesta surrounding the seed that can reduce germination due to inhibition of oxygen to the seed. However, removal of the sarcotesta allows the seeds to dry quicker and more exposure to oxygen. The viability of the clean seeds, sarcotesta removed at harvest, and held under refrigerated storage wasn’t known. The objective was to study the viability and germination of seven papaya lines with seeds from 2006 to 2012. Seeds were imbibed in vitro for one week and a tetrazolium test for seed viability applied. Seeds held in storage from 2006, 2008, 2010 and fresh harvested seed from 2012 were planted in replication under greenhouse condition. Germination was recorded over a 33 day cycle. There was great variability between lines for germination. The 2008 seed for all papaya lines had the poorest germination that ranged from 10% to 60%. Papaya seed loose viability over time under refrigerated storage. Farmers and gardeners with calcareous soils do not need to invest in appling potassium to successfully grow papaya in the Virgin Islands.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Bernier, JE, CM Montilla, TW Zimmerman. 2013 Influence of papaya seed age on viability. 49th Annual Caribbean Food Crops Society Proceeding. 49:(in press).
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The genders of papaya plants are male, female or hermaphrodite (bisexual) with the latter two as the main fruit-bearing types but information lacks on which sex is the most productive. The objective was to study the relationship of fertilizer on papaya genders, female and hermaphrodite, and its effect on height and fruit production. Four varieties of importance to the US Virgin Islands, Maradol, TW, Tainung 5 and UVI and four hybrids, FW x C, Maradol x Tainung 5, Maradol x Young Nong 1, and TW x Tainung 5 were evaluated. The plants were transplanted into the field on April 4, 2012. Potassium fertilizer was applied at 0, 75 or 150 lb. /acre. Data was collected monthly for ten months and included plant sex, plant height, height to first fruit and number of fruit set. Female papaya plants began to flower a week or two before hermaphrodite papayas. The females had a trend to be shorter than hermaphrodites over time. The height to the first fruit was significantly lower for female Tainung 5, Maradol x Tainung 5, Maradol x Young Nong 1. Female trees had a trend for greater fruit set but female Tainung 5 set significantly more fruit than hermaphrodite plants. Even though differences were observed between female and hermaphrodite trees, these differences were minimal for most varieties and hybrids. No difference was obtained between fertilizer regimes possibly because the calcareous soils have a naturally high level of potassium. PARTICIPANTS: UVI Cooperative Extension Service, V I Department of Agriculture, Farmers Cooperative. TARGET AUDIENCES: Local farmers and back yard gardeners in the U.S. Virgin Islands PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Farmers and gardeners with calcareous soils do not need to apply potassium to successfully grow papaya.
Publications
- Pascal, T., C. Montilla, T.W. Zimmerman 2013 Papaya: The Influence of Sex on Plant Height and Production. HortSci (in press).
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Progress 10/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Since the initiation of the project in October, seed germination was conducted on twelve varieties. The varieties were established in the greenhouse in preparation for transplanting to the field for the replicated nutrient study. PARTICIPANTS: UVI Cooperative Extension Service, V I Department of Agriculture, Farmers Cooperative. TARGET AUDIENCES: Local farmers and back yard gardeners in the U.S. Virgin Islands. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Project is too new to have anything to report.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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