Pusa Delicious
From IARI — gynodioecious, medium-sized, deep-orange-fleshed fruit good for table and processing use, and a parent line used to breed CO 7.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Papaya
- Type
- Open-pollinated
- Season
- All seasons
- Maturity period
- First harvest 10–11 months after planting
- Expected yield
- 600–700 q/ha
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- Moderate papaya ring spot virus tolerance
- Release
- Bred at ICAR-IARI, New Delhi by continuous sibmating and selection. No release year or named cross is published. Used as a parent line in TNAU's CO 7.
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Pusa Delicious is a gynodioecious papaya (it makes hermaphrodite and female plants) bred at ICAR-IARI, New Delhi by continuous sibmating and selection. A Biotech Articles roundup describes it as a medium-tall, heavy-yielding plant (58–61 kg per plant) that starts fruiting at 70–80 cm in about 260–270 days (8.5–9 months) from planting, a little earlier than the 10–11 months shown for first harvest. The fruit is medium-sized (1.5–2.0 kg), deep orange, with good sweetness (10–13° Brix) and excellent flavour. TNAU's variety page lists Pusa Delicious as one of four parent lines, with CO 3, CP 75 and Coorg Honey Dew, used to breed its later CO 7. A National Horticulture Board project report also lists Pusa Delicious and Pusa Nanha in Karnataka, Kerala, Jharkhand and Odisha, beyond Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. No release year or named cross is published.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Pusa Delicious if you farm in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal or nearby and want a well-known table and processing papaya. It gives 58–61 kg of fruit per plant, deep-orange flesh at 10–13° Brix, and the first fruit in about 8.5–9 months, though the full first harvest shown above is 10–11 months. Choose CO 7 instead for the south, where it gives more sugar and a heavier yield, Red Lady if you want a hybrid with an earlier first pick, and Pusa Nanha for a small garden.
Sowing & cultivation
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Reported as a heavy yielder (58–61 kg/plant) with good sweetness (10–13° Brix) and deep orange, flavourful flesh — qualities strong enough that TNAU used it as one of four parent lines breeding its later CO.7 release
- Grown beyond the three listed states: a National Horticulture Board project report also lists Karnataka, Kerala, Jharkhand and Odisha
Things to consider
- The roundup puts first fruiting at about 260–270 days (8.5–9 months) after planting, earlier than the 10–11 months shown for first harvest. Plan on the longer figure.
- No release year or named cross is published for Pusa Delicious itself, even though it is well recorded as a parent of other varieties.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Uttar Pradesh
- Bihar
- West Bengal
Which plant do you keep in each pit?
Pusa Delicious is gynodioecious, which means its seedlings grow into either hermaphrodite plants (self-fruiting) or female plants. You cannot tell which until the first flowers open.
TNAU's rule for its gynodioecious varieties CO 3 and CO 7 is to keep one hermaphrodite plant in each pit and remove the female trees. So put more than one seedling in each pit at planting, wait for flowering, and then thin.
Plan your seedling order with that waste in mind. If half of the seedlings turn out female (a 50:50 split is typical for a gynodioecious hybrid such as Red Lady), two seedlings per pit leave one pit in four with no hermaphrodite plant, and three seedlings cut that to one pit in eight.
Can you keep your own planting material?
This is an open-pollinated variety, so seed from a healthy crop of your own can be sown again. Keep seed only from disease-free plants, dry it properly, store it cool and dry, and bring in fresh certified seed every three to four years so the variety does not drift.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Papaya variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Maturity | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CO 7 | Sweet, red-fleshed papaya for Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, with 16.7° Brix and the heaviest yield figures here | First harvest 9–10 months after planting | 900–1,000 q/ha | Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka |
| Coorg Honey Dew (Madhu Bindu) | A semi-dwarf, sweet papaya (about 13.5° Brix) for fresh sale and papain in Karnataka | No separate figure published | High | Karnataka |
| Pusa Deliciousthis page | A well-known orange-fleshed table and processing papaya for north and east India, giving 58–61 kg per plant | First harvest 10–11 months after planting | 600–700 q/ha | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal |
| Pusa Nanha | A dwarf papaya (4–5 feet) for kitchen gardens, pots, rooftops and close planting at 1.2 × 1.2 m | First harvest 8–9 months after planting | 400–450 q/ha | Delhi, Uttar Pradesh |
| Red Lady (Taiwan 786) | A compact, early, red-fleshed hybrid papaya for the commercial market, bearing at 60–80 cm height | First pick ~8 months | Very high | Andhra Pradesh |
Tools for this crop
The numbers you need next: how much seed to buy, whether the lot germinates, what the fertilizer bill looks like and what Papaya is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Papaya plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Germination CalculatorTest 100 seeds from the bag before sowing and see whether the lot is fit to sow.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Papaya variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Papaya into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop CalendarMonth-by-month sowing, weeding, irrigation and harvest dates for Papaya in your state.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Papaya rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Papaya seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Pusa Delicious only grown in North India?
The summary above lists Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, but a National Horticulture Board project report also names Karnataka, Kerala, Jharkhand and Odisha as growing states — so its actual reach is wider than North/East India alone.
Why does TNAU's CO.7 papaya mention Pusa Delicious?
Pusa Delicious was used as one of four parent lines — with CO.3, CP.75 and Coorg Honey Dew — in the multiple crosses TNAU made to breed CO.7, a later, heavier-yielding release. It's both a standalone table variety and established breeding stock.
Do I plant one seedling or several in each pit for Pusa Delicious?
Plant more than one. Pusa Delicious is gynodioecious, so seedlings turn out hermaphrodite or female and you can tell only when they flower. TNAU's rule for its gynodioecious CO 3 and CO 7 is to keep one hermaphrodite plant per pit and remove the female trees, and the same sex type makes that a sensible plan here.
How does Pusa Delicious compare with Pusa Nanha?
Pusa Delicious is the full-size orchard type: 600–700 q/ha, first harvest at 10–11 months and 1.5–2.0 kg fruit. Pusa Nanha is the dwarf, 4–5 feet tall, 400–450 q/ha, first harvest at 8–9 months, and it suits a kitchen garden or close spacing of 1.2 × 1.2 m. Pusa Nanha is dioecious, so it needs male plants. Pusa Delicious does not.
Is the 600–700 q/ha figure realistic for Pusa Delicious?
It looks cautious. At 58–61 kg of fruit per plant, 600–700 q/ha (60,000–70,000 kg) needs only about 1,000–1,200 well-fruiting plants per hectare, while TNAU's 1.8 m spacing gives about 3,086 pits. Use it as a planning figure and do not count on every plant bearing 58–61 kg.
When will Pusa Delicious give its first fruit?
First fruiting comes at about 8.5–9 months after planting, but the full first harvest shown here is 10–11 months. Plan on the longer figure, so you do not promise fruit to a buyer too early. The tree keeps bearing after that, with 58–61 kg of fruit per plant.
Pusa Delicious or CO 7 in eastern Uttar Pradesh or Bihar?
Pusa Delicious is the one listed for Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, and it is a well-known table and processing papaya with deep-orange flesh at 10–13° Brix. CO 7 is the southern variety, with sweeter red flesh at 16.7° Brix and a heavier yield. In the east, start with Pusa Delicious unless your KVK recommends otherwise.
Sourced from: Varietal Wealth of Papaya in India — Biotech Articles, Horticulture :: TNAU :: Varieties :: Fruit crops-Papaya, PAPAYA — Model Project Report, National Horticulture Board, Horticulture :: Fruits :: Papaya — TNAU Agritech Portal (sex types, male-plant ratio, spacing, seed rate). editorial policy.