The productivity of the crop can be increased by growing elite cultivars produced by in vitro clonal propagation. Need for in vitro explants arose because the establishment of cultures from explants grown outdoors is difficult due to severe contamination problems. Although somatic embryogenesis has been reported in papaya ( Fitch and Mansherdt, 1990; Monmarson et al., 1995; Cheng et al., 1987; Cabrera-Ponce et al., 1996), the whole process of developing a new plantlet takes almost 2–3 months.