Carica papaya L commonly called "papaya", is widely grown in tropical and semitropical latitudes for the delicately flavoured fruit. Virus diseases of papaya have been reported from. nearly every continent where the crop is grown and these viruses severely restrict commercial production. Papaya mosaic first reported from a commercial plantation in 1952 in Sri Lanka, is common in Hawai, Bombay, Puerto Rico and several latin american countries. (Adsuar, 1946, Capoor et al, 1958; Giocometti et al 1960; Holtzman et al, 1963) Despite thorough studies of papaya genetics and the existence of a myriad of papaya varieties horticultu rally desirable lines resistant to these virus have yet to be discovered or developed. This paper reports our ef. forts to find germplasm for resistance to papaya mosaic in Sri Lanka.
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