Effect of Sex Type, Season, and other Factors on in Vitro Establishment and Culture of Carica papaya L. Expiants1

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Abstract
Shoot tips were removed from field-grown staminate, pistillate and bisexual selections of Carica papaya L. at intervals during a 21 month period, and were cultured in vitro on a sterile establishment formulation consisting of Murashige and Skoog basal medium (MS) supplemented with 50 μm kinetin and 10 μm naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) in a growth room at 25°C and with a 16 hr photoperiod at 1.5 klx. Established expiants were transferred to proliferation medium consisting of MS with 2 μm 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) and 1 μm NAA. Establishment of expiants was influenced by season, sex type and degree or type of microbial infection. Proliferation rates varied for different clones and declined sharply after about 13 subcultures. Bacterial contamination was a severe problem; however the nearly ubiquitous Pseudomonas sp. contaminant did not cause mortality. Expiants could not be established from stock plants affected by a disease of unknown etiology that appeared in experimental plantings. Frequency of rooting on MS media with or without auxin declined with increased time in culture.

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