Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the oldest oilseed crops and important for high nutritional quality as well as medicinal value. Fifty
diverse sesame genotypes were evaluated to study genetic variability. The results revealed that the genotypes were a significant variation in most of the studied characters. In all cases, the phenotypic variances were much higher than genotypic variances suggests a higher level of the
environmental effect on the expression of these characters. The highest
genotypic coefficient of variations (GCV) was observed in seed yield per plant while the highest heritability was exhibited by hundred seed weight followed by days to 80% maturity, pods per plant, number of branches per plant and seed yield per plant. The genotypic correlation with seed yield per plant showed a significantly strong positive with days to 50% flowering, plant height and number of pods per plant at both
the genotypic and phenotypic level. The path coefficient analysis showed that pods per plant and seeds per pod were the most important contributing traits to seed yield. The 50 sesame genotypes were grouped into five clusters. The highest inter-cluster distance was observed between the cluster III and V while the lowest inter-cluster distance was observed between the cluster III and IV. Among 50 sesame genotypes G7, G36, G38 and G46 might be suggested for future hybridization program
for the improvement of sesame yield.
Early and Late Pedigree Selection for Seed Yield/Plant in Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)
