Preliminary Evaluation of Yield, Agronomic Characteristics and Response of Sesame Lines to Wilt Disease in Moghan Region

In order to evaluate the yield, agronomic characteristics and response of sesame promising lines to wilting disease using multivariate methods, an experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in 2019. The genetic plant materials evaluated in this study included the superior 20 selected lines along with Oltan as the control cultivar. During the growing season, different traits such as germination percentage, days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, branching height, first capsule height, number of capsules per plant, capsule length, stem diameter, number of seeds per capsule, number of branches, leaf chlorophyll content, 1000-seed weight and seed yield per hectare were measured. The response of genotypes to fusarium wilt disease was also scored. The results showed that line 20 with 1604 kg/ha had the highest seed yield among the compared genotypes. Evaluation of lines showed that lines 1, 4, 19 and 20 were the most tolerant genotypes to fusarium wilt disease. The most positive and significant correlation was observed between seed yield and number of capsules per plant, leaf chlorophyll content, number of seeds per capsule, plant height, 1000-seed weight, capsule length and germination percentage, but with the number of days to flowering, days to maturity and first capsule height, it was negatively significant. The results of stepwise regression and path analysis of seed yield as a dependent variable and other agronomic traits as independent variables showed that the three traits including number of capsules per plant, number of seed per capsule and stem diameter had the most positive and significant direct effect on yield, respectively. The most indirect effect on seed yield was by the number of seeds per capsule through the number of capsules per plant. Cluster analysis grouped the genotypes into three distinct groups. The first group, including lines 1, 4, 13 and 20, were among the desirable genotypes in most agronomic traits and were well-distinguished from other genotypes by cluster analysis. In general, the results of this study showed that lines 20, 4 and 1 with the highest seed yield per hectare and superior in terms of important agronomic characteristics and tolerant to plant wilting disease, compared to the control cultivar Oltan, were recommended as promising lines in Moghan region.