Variability in proximate, mineral and vitamin contents of Carica papaya (L.) leaves, fruit pulp and seeds

The leaves and fruits of five Carica papaya morphotypes were harvested from trees in home gardens in Umuahia, Abia state, Nigeria. The morphotypes were based on fruit shape and pulp colour and are oblong red, oblong yellow, pear orange, round orange and round yellow. Seeds were extracted from the fruits and the proximate, mineral and vitamin analysis carried out on the leaves, fruits and seeds. All the determinants were carried out in triplicates. Analysis of variance was used to partition the variability into the components due to genetic and non- environmental factors, genotypic (GCV), phenotypic (PCV) components of variation, estimates of broad sense heritability (h2B) and genetic advance (GA) was also done. The result showed that most of the variability observed in the nutritional traits has more genetic than non- genetic basis and this indicates that a considerable selection program for improvement in these traits is possible in Carica papaya.