*Corresponding author: bindu.b@kau.in
Papaya has gained commercial importance over the years because of its varied uses, mainly for table purpose. It is usually grown as homestead crop in Kerala. In recent years, isolated attempts have been made by some progressive farmers for commercial cultivation. Major production constraint encountered in papaya is difficulty in maximizing yield with in unit time. The present experiment was undertaken to study the response of major plant nutrients viz nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium on growth, yield and quality of papaya and also to find out the optimum dose of NPK for commercial cultivation of papaya under Kerala conditions. The trial was conducted in 33 confounded factorial RBD, confounding NPK in replication-1 and NP2K2 in replication-2. Different levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (200, 250 and 300) gram per plant per year were tried in six equal splits. Results revealed that application of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium at the rate of 250:250:500 gram per plant per year in six equal splits, at two months interval was economically viable and improved the growth, yield and quality of papaya.
