Evaluation of Physicochemical, Nutritional and Sensory Quality Characteristics of New Papaya Hybrids Fruits Developed in JKUAT

The world is faced with a lot of challenges including lack of sustainable development and inability to feed its growing population leading to malnutrition. The issue of accessing high quality nutritious foods such as fruits has become a major challenge for many African people. Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is among the most popular fruits grown in Kenya and excellent in nutritional content. However, its potential has remained unexploited due to inadequate quality planting materials, high post- harvest losses and prevalence of pests and diseases. Researchers at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology developed promising papaya hybrids whose physicochemical, nutritional content and sensory characteristics have not been evaluated. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the physicochemical, nutritional content and sensory quality characteristics of the new papaya hybrids and their control, Sunrise Solo. The physicochemical attributes evaluated included; total soluble solids, total titratable acid, pH and total soluble solid/total titrable acid ratio. While the nutritional content evaluated included (Vitamin C and β-carotene content) and sensory quality characteristics were evaluated. The standard AOAC methods was used to determine nutritional content and an effective analysis with 9- point hedonic scale was used on sensory evaluation. There was significant difference (P< 0.05) in nutritional content of new hybrids papaya fruits and Sunrise solo. The maximum and minimum Vitamin C content of 131.63 mg/100g and 52mg/100g were exhibited by line 6 and 8 respectively. β-carotene content ranged between 1.69 and 3.39 mg/100g as exhibited by line 1 and lines 2 and 8 respectively. The findings of this study revealed that the nutritional content of the new papaya hybrids exceeded the one of Sunrise Solo while their sensory quality characteristics compared favourably to the one of Sunrise Solo. Based on these findings, lines 1, 2,5,6,7 can be recommended for commercialization.