PAPAYA AND ITS USES IN DAILY LIFE ?

 PAPAYA:

Biological Source: it is a cultivated fruiting tree known as Carica papaya Linne. (Family: Caricaceae).

The half-ripe fruits of the plant are the source of medicinal latex obtained by giving vertical incisions, which constitutes the proteolytic enzyme papain of commercial importance.

Geographical Source :

its perennial plant indigenous to tropical America. It is extensively cultivated in Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Hawaii, Florida and India.

Habitat :

Papaya plant is about 5 metres in height and bears fruit within a year. Fruits are about 10 25 cm in length, about 5 kg in weight and dark green in colour. When the plant is about 9 months of age it is used for collecting its latex.

Collection and Preparation of Papain :

Vertical cuts are given to the fruits with the help of sharp instruments made of stainless steel or brass. The (juice) latex oozing out of the fruit gets coagulated and is collected in

suitable containers (plastic, polythene or aluminium) dried at low temperature in vacuum. This product is known as crude papain.

For the processing of papain, the latex of these fruits is collected in aluminium trays. To the collected latex, potassium metabisulphite (5 g/kg of latex) is added. The extraneous matter is cleared out by passing through sieves and the latex is dried in vacuum shelf dryer at 55 ~ 60°C. it can also be processed by spray-drying method. This dried latex is called papain.

Uses :

It is used in clarification of beverages and as a meat tenderiser. it is employed in cheese manufacture as a substitute of rennin. it is also used for degumming of silk fabrics in textile industry and in leather industry for dehairing of skins and hides. Medicinally, it is used as digestant (proteolytic) and an antiinflammatory agent. lt has shown relieving symptoms of episiotomy. One N.F. unit of papain represents the activity which releases equivalent of 1 pg of tyrosine from a standard casein substrate.