Plant Science Today, ISSN 2348-1900 (online) OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE HISTORY Received: 12 September 2022 Accepted: 21 November 2022 Available online Version 1.0 : 04 February 2023 Additional information Peer review: Publisher thanks Sectional Editor and the other anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Reprints & permissions information is avail- able at https://horizonepublishing.com/ journals/index.php/PST/open_access_policy Publisher’s Note: Horizon e-Publishing Group remains neutral with regard to jurisdic- tional claims in published maps and institu- tional afiliations. Indexing: Plant Science Today, published by Horizon e-Publishing Group, is covered by Scopus, Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, Clarivate Analytics, NAAS etc. See https://horizonepublishing.com/journals/ index.php/PST/indexing_abstracting Copyright: © The Author(s). This is an open- access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/) CITE THIS ARTICLE Matsuane C, Kavoo A M, Kiage B N, Karanja J, Rimberia F K. Nutrient content and biochemi- cal analysis of papaya (Carica papaya L.) hy- brids grown in central Kenya. Plant Science Today (Early Access). https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2117 Abstract Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is a known powerhouse of nutrients and biochemi- cals which have health benefits necessary in a human diet. Mineral and vita- min deficiencies, like stunting, wasting and underweight in children, are common in Kenya yet available fruits like papaya can provide those nutri- ents. This study evaluated the nutritional and biochemical compositions, sugars and the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging ac- tivities of 2 newly developed papaya hybrids (JKUAT 7 and JKUAT 8) grown in Kenya and Solo variety, as control; in a completely randomised design which were subjected to one way ANOVA at p<0.05. Results from this study showed significant diferences for JKUAT 8 with zinc, iron, potassium and vitamin C contents at 3.28, 3.62, 1145.10 and 448.30 mg/100 g respectively. Solo variety had significantly higher β-carotene (68.75 mg/100 g), lycopene (25.47 mg/100 g) and flavonoid (0.0178 g/100 g) contents. JKUAT 7 had more phenolic and tannins contents at 0.4434 g/100 g and 81.65 mg/100 g respectively. The DPPH activities ranged from 20 to 80 mg/mL with JKUAT 7 having the highest activity at 20 mg/mL and the least, Solo at 80 mg/mL. JKUAT 7 also exhibited higher total sugar contents in a range of 4.86 to 11.57%: with glucose and fructose at 5.74 and 5.83 % respectively. Our results suggested high nutri- tional and biochemical profiles of the newly developed JKUAT 7 and JKUAT 8 compared to Solo, the commercial variety. The high nutritional and bio- chemical contents recorded in the study papayas can be utilised in enhanc- ing human nutrition and health thereby reducing metabolic disorders. Keywords Carica papaya hybrids, mineral, radical scavenging activity, sugars, vitamin Introduction Papaya (Carica papaya L.), which belongs to the Caricaceae family, is a popu- lar fruit native to the tropical America (1). It is grown and produced in most world regions along the tropical climacteric areas like Africa where there are warmer temperatures and adequate rainfall. The top papaya producing countries in Africa are Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya at 929.8, 214.3 and 136.3 thousand metric tons (2) respectively. Papaya is one popular fruit crop grown in Kenya for its nutritional and health benefits. Pa- paya was introduced in Kenya over 50 years ago where it is mostly grown for domestic and commercial purposes mostly by the small-scale farmers (3). Other important fruits produced in Kenya are bananas, pineapples, avoca- PLANT SCIENCE TODAY ISSN 2348-1900 (online) Vol x(x): xx–xx https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2117 HORIZON e-Publishing Group Nutrient content and biochemical analysis of papaya ( Carica papaya L.) hybrids grown in central Kenya Christinah Matsuane 1,3* , Agnes M. Kavoo 1 , Beatrice N. Kiage 2 ,Josephine Karanja 1 & Fredah K. Rimberia 1 1 Department of Horticulture and Food Security, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O Box 62000 -00200,Nairobi,Kenya 2 Department of Human Nutrition Sciences, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O Box 62000-00200, Nairobi, Kenya 3 Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Private Bag 0027, Gaborone, Botswana *Email: cmatsuane@gmail.com RESEARCH ARTICLE