<p>Commercial cultivation of papaya (<i>Carica papaya</i>&#xa0;L.) is gaining importance essentially because of its nutritional value, varied industrial uses, and high economic benefits. Papaya responds positively to input application, which is reflected in terms of yield. The present study was carried out to understand the response of various input use technologies, <i>viz</i>., a)&#xa0;raised bed cultivation, b)&#xa0;drip irrigation (80% evaporation replenishment at all stages), c)&#xa0;fertigation (75% recommended dose of fertilizers [RDF]), d)&#xa0;mulching with 100 µ ultraviolet [UV] stabilized black polyethylene, and e)&#xa0;micronutrient spray (zinc sulphate @ 0.5% and boric acid @ 0.2%) in four different combinations (T₁: a + b + c + d + e, T₂: a + b + c + d, T₃: a + b + c + e, T₄: a + b + e + pocket application of RDF) with a&#xa0;control (T₅: soil application of RDF, basin irrigation and no mulching) and to appreciate their combined effects on growth, yield and quality attributes and economic returns in papaya. Field experiments were conducted from 2015 to 2022 at three different locations, <i>viz</i>., Anantharajupet (Andhra Pradesh), Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) and Pusa (Bihar), under the All India Coordinated Research Project on Fruits, ICAR, New Delhi, India. The results from Anantharajupet and Coimbatore indicated that the T₃ treatment performed better in terms of fruit yield (44.45 kg plant⁻¹, 135.95 t&#xa0;ha⁻¹; and 68.81 kg plant⁻¹, 182.65 t&#xa0;ha⁻¹) and the benefit–cost ratio (BCR) (2.30; 2.97), respectively. In Pusa, T₁ (T₃ + mulching with 100 µ UV stabilized black polyethylene) recorded the highest fruit yield (56.78 kg plant⁻¹, 155.63 t&#xa0;ha⁻¹), whereas the maximum BCR (2.13) was recorded in T₃. In terms of fruit biometric and quality attributes, T₃ performed better in Anantharajupet and Coimbatore, whereas T₁ performed better in Pusa when compared with the control.</p> Graphic abstract <p></p>