Traits associated with intermittent drought tolerance in sesame Indian core set genotypes

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of deficit moisture stress on eleven sesame genotypes IC-132171, IC-132186, IC-204445, IC-131500, IC-132207, IC-205471, IC-203962, IC-205353, IC96229, IC-204966 included with a national check (GT-10). The precise deficit moisture stress (WS) was imposed from flowering to the physiological maturity stage (50-55 days). Results indicated that the morphological, physiological, and yield traits were significantly decreased under WS in comparison to irrigated conditions (WW). Based on the mean performance the genotype IC-204966 was found most superior for capsules number/plant, seed weight, total dry matter, leaf area, and reduced canopy temperature under WS conditions. The correlation analysis of different traits with seed yield indicated that the plant height and number of capsules/plant were highly and positively correlated with seed yield under both WW and WS conditions. The principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that among the traits studied, number of capsules/plant, total dry matter, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate and fatty acid i.e., palmitic acid were the most important traits that accounted for more than half of the total variation among the sesame genotypes studied. Furthermore, the scatter plot revealed that two genotypes, IC 132207 and IC 205471 were stable performers under both stress and irrigated conditions, whereas the performance of check GT-10 varied depending upon conditions.