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 Photograph of pawpaw flower taken on May 5, 2009. Photo by Jeremy Lowe.

pawpaw.kysu provides information on how to grow and use fruit from the North American pawpaw tree.

KSU Pawpaw Program

The pawpaw (Asimina triloba) fruit has both fresh market and processing appeal, with a tropical like flavor that resembles a combination of banana, mango, and pineapple. Kentucky State University has the only full-time pawpaw research program in the world as part of the KSU Land Grant Program. Pawpaw research efforts are directed at improving seed and clonal propagation methods, developing orchard management recommendations, conducting regional variety trials, understanding fruit ripening processes, developing fruit storage techniques, and germplasm collection and characterization of genetic diversity.

USDA National Clonal Repository for Pawpaw   

Since 1994, Kentucky State University has served as the USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR), or gene bank, for Asimina species (pawpaw), as a satellite site of the NCGR repository at Corvallis, OR. There are over 2,000 accessions (trees) from 17 states that are planted on 10 acres at the KSU farm. We are attempting to evaluate the genetic diversity contained in wild pawpaw populations across its native range so that unique material can be added to the KYSU repository collection; this potentially rich source of useful genetic traits will be used in breeding efforts.

Pawpaw News

Pawpaws Gain Standing as Kentucky Crop (6/28/09)

Pomper and Crabtree win Shepard Award for Pawpaw Research (6/18/09)

From Novel Fruits (pawpaw), a Lush Landscape in NY Times (5/20/09)

Pawpaw article in Northern Nut Growers Association Nutshell Newsletter (5/13/09)

Summaries of recent KSU pawpaw research projects (5/06/09)

KSU Student wins award for pawpaw research project (see page 7) (5/06/09)

Sheri Crabtree talks to WFPL about pawpaws (4/19/09)

Indigenous pawpaw named native fruit of Ohio (New archive site 4/08/09)

Join the New Pawpaw Discussion Group

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