Abstract
Sesame is an oilseed crop which can be grown on marginal lands. Selection of stable sesame cultivars that can adapt to local environmental conditions can be a very important food security strategy. A set of 21 high yielding sesame accessions that have been selected for a temperate region were grown in the transitional zone of Ghana during the major season of 2014. The seeds were sown after the first rain in the year in a completely randomized design, with three replications. The objective was to evaluate the effect of the contrasting environment on sesame phenology and to select cultivars with yield potential that can be accepted into local farming systems in the new environment. Morphological, physiological and agronomic traits, leading to yield were recorded in this study. Number of capsules per plant had the strongest association (72%) with seed yield. Five accessions showed a combination of early maturity 20 g per plant) and good harvest index (0.29). Based on their mean performance these cultivars have been selected as promising exotic cultivars for the new locality.
Highlights
Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the world’s oldest spice and oilseed crop grown mainly for its seeds (Morris, 2002; Dorothea, 2003; Francis, 2013)
Selection of stable sesame cultivars that can adapt to local environmental conditions can be a very important food security strategy
Sesame seeds are unusually high in oil, around 50% of the seed weight and 25% protein, compared to 20% seed oil for example in soybeans
Summary
Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the world’s oldest spice and oilseed crop grown mainly for its seeds (Morris, 2002; Dorothea, 2003; Francis, 2013). It is considered drought tolerant, but needs good soil moisture to get established (Myers, 2002) It has a natural pest suppression mechanism (Sintim et al, 2014), can thrive on marginal soils and can be planted three times a year on the same land (Sintim: personal communication). The average world yield is still low at 0.52 ton ha-1 (FAO, 2012) which is from low-yielding dehiscent varieties with poor harvest index values, and have significant yield loss during threshing (Ashri, 1998; Uzun & Cagirgam, 2006) Among these production constraints, the most crucial include the lack of improved cultivars which are high yielding, non-dehiscent and reliable seed supply (Pham et al, 2010; Tiwari et al, 2011). There is ample evidence indicating that sesame yield depends on the interaction of different climatic parameters such as solar radiation, temperature and humidity (Beech, 1985; Nath et al, 2001) we still had the chance to grow temperate selected sesame cultivars in a tropical area to evaluate its adaptability and yield potential
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