Choice of Traits for Seed Yield Improvement based on Association Analysis Studies in Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

Sesame is an ancient oilseed crop of India popular for its drought resistance and stable healthy oil which is easy to extract. Information regarding the genetic association of plant traits with grain yield is of great importance to breeders in selecting suitable genotypes. Hence, the present study is based on simple measures of variability and genetic variance to identify suitable genotypes for further improvement.

The experiment was carried out at Student’s Farm, Department of Agriculture, Loyola Academy, Secunderabad during Kharif 2021. Sixty genotypes of the Sesamum crop were studied for 13 quantitative and qualitative traits.

Analysis of variance revealed that the genotypes were significant (P 0.05 and P 0.01) for all of the traits studied. A positive significant correlation at the genotypic level was observed for the character 1000 seed weight (0.222) with grain yield. A positive correlation between desirable traits is encouraging to the plant breeder as it helps in the simultaneous improvement of both traits. Positive direct effects were highest for the character 1000 seed weight (0.866) followed by the number of capsules per axil (0.660) on grain yield. This study would help to select the genotypes that have a strong association among traits.