Abstract—Papaya ( Carica papaya L.) is a popular and economically important fruit tree that consists of various varieties worldwide. Four varieties of papaya cultivated in Mauritius namely Farc, Long Orange, Ramnan and Uganda Female were analyzed at the morphological and molecular level in order to understand their genetic diversity. Morphological characters used for the comparison of species included mature papaya leaves, petioles, inflorescences and fruits. For the molecular study, genomic DNA was amplified using RAPD-PCR reaction. The RAPD primers yielded enough polymorphic bands revealing differences between the papaya varieties with which a dendogram was generated.

Index Terms—Papaya, Morphological characters, RAPD markers, Dendogram

Cite: S. Madarbokus and V. M. Ranghoo-Sanmukhiya, "     Identification of Genetic Diversity among Papaya Varieties in Mauritius Using Morphological and Molecular Markers," International Journal of Life Sciences Biotechnology and Pharma Research, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp.153-163, October 2012.