Performances of black seed sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) under low fertility saline soils

The world need for healthy cooking oil has readjusted research into other non-conventional oil crops like sesame. The importance of sesame is not only because of its healthy oil crop but also because of its short life cycle making it an attractive cash crop. The crop has been reported to be moderately sensitive to saline-soil and drought. Previous reports on the salinity tolerance were conducted on artificial saline soils with considering fertility thus it is important to evaluate the crops performance on naturally low fertility saline soils. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of saline-soil on growth, development and yield and yield related traits of black seed sesame. The pot experiment was conducted at Buri Ram province Thailand, in a 2 × 6 factorial in RCBD with three replications, where factor A was the soil salinity levels and factor B was the sesame cultivars. Sesame seeds were planted in a seedbed and later were transplanted into the 72 experimental pots each filled with 9 kg soil. Observed results showed that salinity levels had effect on sesame i.e. plant height, number of branches at 30 DAT, SCMR, total chlorophyll content, number of capsules, total dry weight and capsules dry weight. An interaction between salinity level and cultivar was also investigated i.e. number of branches and capsules, total and capsules dry weight and harvest index (HI). Salinity levels had influence on sesame both on growth and yield parameters; cv. Kanchanaburi and KKU2 showed higher number of capsules when compared with other cultivars grown under saline soil, whereas cv. Kanchanburi, UB3 and Buriram gave higher capsules dry weight under saline-soil.