Abstract
Sesame, an important oilseed crop, highly valued for its oil quality contains plethora of nutritive substances such as proteins, carbohydrates, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), lignans (sesamin and sesamolin), tocopherol, phytosterols, phytates and other micronutrients. The presence of these substances enhances the keeping quality of oil by preventing oxidative rancidity. Benefits of this underexploited crop include antioxidative, anticancer, antihypersensitive and tumor-suppressive properties. Despite of its high nutritional value, research on this valuable oilseed is meagre due to several biotic and abiotic stresses and absence of non-shattering cultivars. Thus, to explore the potential of sesame as an important oilseed possessing multifarious property, we have tried to provide a detailed overview of the crop and its genetic diversity available throughout the world. Sesame is a promising target oilseed crop for biotechnological applications and marker based studies. The genetic manipulation in the crop along with other strategies would enable development of varieties with high nutritional and functional value. Our aim is to explore the hidden heterogeneity in the crop and provide impetus for valuable oilseed research.
Highlights
Oilseed crops are diverse in the plant kingdom and belong to several families
Later studies refuted the concept of African progenitor of sesame and based on interspecific crosses, lignan analyses suggested that cultivated sesame has been derived from wild populations native to Indian subcontinent, the western Indian peninsula and parts of Pakistan [11] [14]-[17]
The biochemical investigation of sesamin and sesamolin in sesame germplasm have revealed high lignan contents in S. malabaricum and sesame cultivar from Tamil Nadu, CO-1, indicating close genetic relationship shared by two species [25]
Summary
Oilseed crops are diverse in the plant kingdom and belong to several families. In India, oilseed crops occupy an. The oilseeds like groundnut, sesame, soybean and niger are important sources of nutrients and are consumed either directly or as ingredients of other food items. Among the nine oilseed crops grown in the country, seven are of edible oils (soybean, groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, sunflower, sesame, safflower and niger) and two are of non-edible oils (castor and linseed). Among the large number of oilseeds grown here, sesame lies at the sixth position of production after soybean, cotton seed, groundnut, sunflower and mustard (National Productive Council, New Delhi). It is predominantly grown in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam. China is the world’s largest consumer and 70% of world’s sesame crop is grown in Asia followed by Africa having a gross share of 26% in the world
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