Yield Performance of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Varieties at Different Levels of Plant Population in Optimum Moisture Areas of Western Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

The production of sesame (Sesame indicum L.), an important oil crop produced for export in Ethiopia, is affected by environmental and biotic factors as well as management practices. Determining the optimum plant population in optimum moisture areas for sesame is crucial to boost sesame productivity. A field experiment was conducted at Zuria-Dansha, in optimum moisture areas of western Tigray to evaluate yield performance of sesame varieties at different levels of plant population. The experiment was laid out in RCBD in factorial arrangement with three varieties of sesame (Gida-Ayana, Humera-1 and Hirhr) and four plant population (80,000, 124,444, 250,000 and 666,666 plants/ha) in three replications. The result revealed that varieties and plant population significantly differed in yield and yield related traits. The variety Gida-Ayana recorded maximum fertile capsules per plant, thousand seed weight, seed per capsule and oil content (%) while the local variety Hirhr recorded the least. The yield components like: fertile capsules per plant, seed per capsule and thousand seed weight were highest in the low plant population than highest plant population but oil content (%) was not affected by different levels of plant population. The highest seed yield was obtained from variety Gida-Ayana grown at 250,000 plants (10 cm × 40 cm) which significantly increases yield by 34.75% as compared with local variety Hirhr with the same plant population. Hence, it can be concluded that higher seed yield and oil content (%) of sesame could be obtained by using Gida-Ayana variety sowing at the plant population of 250,000 plants/ha (40 cm × 10 cm) under optimum moisture areas of western Tigray and similar agro-climatic conditions.

Keywords: Optimum moisture, performance, plant population, Sesame, Varieties, Yield

DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-4-03

Publication date: February 29^th 2020