Morphological diversity of the UN Cotové papaya (Carica papaya L.) variety grown under tropical dry forest conditions

This work aimed to describe the morphological diversity of the UN Cotové papaya variety to identify outstanding plants that can be used to obtain a new local cultivar. 18 individuals were selected, and the multivariate non-hierarchical cluster technique analyzed data. A Polynomial regression model was carried out to describe growth as a function of growing degree days. The ANOVA identified significant differences between plants for most morphological variables. The Pearson correlation showed linear dependence; all the variables had a high correlation (higher than 0.82) with plant height. The Hopkins and Gap statistic determined two clusterings: Gropu "D" with higher development and group "A" with less development for all parameters. Second-order polynomial model were the best fit for the plant height, and third-order models were the best fit for the others. The non-linear functional models were not significant for the evaluated variables, presenting "Lack of Fit" values greater than 0.05. The results provided information for selecting plants with outstanding characteristics that can be used in the papaya breeding program.