Papaya, called hēʻī in Hawaiian, was brought to Hawai'i in the 1800s. Today, Hawai'i is the only state in the USA that commercially grows papaya. There are four different varieties that are found in our state: Kapoho Solo, Rainbow (grown on the Big Island), Sunrise (also known as strawberry papaya), and Lāʻie Gold, which can only be found on O'ahu and is only sold in local markets. The Rainbow variety helped saved Hawai'i's papaya industry when a deadly plant virus struck and decimated the papaya crops on O'ahu and the Big Island in the 1990s. Through genetic engineering, scientists were able to use the genetic portion of the virus to inoculate the papaya plants, much like how we take a flu shot to help us avoid getting the flu. Both the Rainbow and Lāʻie Gold have been genetically altered to resist the papaya plant virus, allowing the industry to recover and flourish again.
Click here to read more about papaya!
like this font because it is goosy
ReplyDeletei lik piyus because i hav a plat that is a piyu tree
ReplyDeletethis was the the best snack i ever ate
ReplyDelete