Research ArticleEvaluating Performance of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)Genotypes in Different Growing Seasons in Northern Ethiopia

Fiseha Baraki and Muez Berhe

Crop Research Core Process, Humera Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia

Correspondence should be addressed to Fiseha Baraki; fish051bar@gmail.com

Received 1 September 2018; Accepted 2 January 2019; Published 3 March 2019

Academic Editor: Maria Serrano

Copyright © 2019 Fiseha Baraki and Muez Berhe. +is is an open access article distributed under the Creative CommonsAttribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in anymedium, provided the original work isproperly cited.

Ethiopia is one of the famous and major producers of sesame in sub-Saharan Africa, and Ethiopian sesame is among the highestquality in the world. +e experiment was conducted in Northern Ethiopia for three growing seasons (2013–2015) under a rainfed condition with the objective of identifying high-yielding genotypes and their agronomic traits. +e experiment consisted oftwelve genotypes laid down in randomized complete block design with three replications. +e genotype, year, and geno-type × year interaction components showed statistically highly significant variation (p< 0.001) for most of the agronomic traitswhich clearly confirms the presence of genotype × year interaction in this study. +e highest combined mean grain yield(906.3 kg/ha) was obtained from Hirhir followed by Serkamo white (756.5 kg/ha), and from the three growing seasons, thehighest grain yield (1161.5 kg/ha) was recorded from Hirhir grown in the second growing season (2014). +e growing seasonswere different from one another in allowing the genotypes to have a different performance, and all of the agronomic traits,except thousand seed weight, were statistically different across the three growing seasons. In the ordination of the genotypesand agronomic traits, PCA1, which accounted for 38.3% of the variation, was positively associated with grain yield, branchesper plant, length of the pod-bearing zone, plant height, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, and thousand seedweight. On the contrary, PCA2, which accounted for 19.7% of the variation, was positively associated with days to 50%flowering and days to 50% maturity.

1. Introduction

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), locally called “Selit” or“Simsim,” is one of the major economically important oilcrops in Ethiopia. +e sesame sector is millions of dollarsindustry that supports the livelihoods of thousands of smallfarmers and hundreds of medium-to-large-scale privatefarms along with thousands of other actors involved in thechain of production-to-consumption/export continuum.Ethiopia is one of the famous andmajor producers of sesamein sub-Saharan Africa, and Ethiopian sesame is among thehighest quality in the world; especially seeds produced in theHumera and Gondar regions are renowned worldwide fortheir high quality (color, taste, and nutty aroma) [1]. Fromnutrition point of view, sesame is also rich in phosphorous,iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and vitamin B1 [2].

Agriculture is the major source of economic growth inEthiopia, as was corroborated by the sector’s contribution toGDP growth rate which rose from 22.3% to 24.5% for 2014/15 fiscal year [3]. Furthermore, sesame is the second majorsource of foreign currency for Ethiopia next to coffee fromthe agricultural products, and a huge amount of foreigncurrency was obtained from 2011/12-2016/17 (Figure 1) [4].Given the high market demand and fairly favorable price forthe farmer, it can be reckoned that sesame plays a significantrole to directly ensuring food-security of millions of peopleby enabling them have access to food and nutrition inEthiopia.

Despite its ideal adaptation to dry sites, sesame can alsobe cultivated in humid, tropical, and subtropical regions, andin different parts of the world, sesame is cultivated between25°N and 25°S latitudes [5]. In Ethiopia, sesame is grown

HindawiInternational Journal of AgronomyVolume 2019, Article ID 7804621, 7 pageshttps://doi.org/10.1155/2019/7804621

mainly in low- and mid-altitude areas, altitudes between 500and 1300meters above the sea level (masl) being the mostsuitable. Sesame productivity can go up to 1200 kg/ha and upto 2100 kg/ha at rain fed and irrigation production condi-tions [6]. However, the productivity of the available sesamevarieties released so far (both for rain fed and irrigationproduction) is lower than some of the producing countries.Hence, the objective of this study is to evaluate di�erentavailable genotypes which may be indispensably importantfor further sesame breeding and to identify high-yieldinggenotypes with desirable agronomic traits.

2. Materials and Methods

�e experiment was conducted in Northern Ethiopia,Western zone of Tigray, speci�cally in the Humera area forthree growing seasons (2013-2015). �e agroecology of thelocations is described as hot to warm semiarid plain (SA1-1)with edaphic and climatic variations as indicated in Table 1and Figure 2, respectively.

2.1. Experimental Design and Material. �e experiment wasconducted under the rain fed condition, and in both of thethree cropping seasons, twelve genotypes (ten advancedlines, one standard check, and other one local check) wereevaluated. �e twelve genotypes viz. Acc-051-02-sel-(1),Acc-051-02-sel-1-(2), Acc-051-02-sel11--(1), Acc-051-02-sel-14, Acc-111-840, Acc-202-374, Cross22XT-85(24-2),Cross22XT-85(32-3)-sel-4, NN-038, Serkamo white, Hir-hir (local check), and Tate (standard check) were evaluatedfor their grain yield and other agronomic traits. �ese tenadvanced lines together with other 15 genotypes and ad-vanced lines have been under preliminary variety trial forone year to evaluate their agronomic traits. After the dataanalysis, these ten advanced lines were selected and pro-moted for further regional variety trial.

Further description of the genotypes is given in Table 2.�e experiment was laid down in randomized complete

block design (RCBD) having three replications in both of thecropping seasons. Each genotype was randomly assignedand sown in a plot area of 2.8m by 5m with 1m betweenplots and 1.5m between blocks keeping inter- and intrarowspacing of 0.4m and 0.1m, in that order. Each experimentalplot was treated equally as per the recommendations of thecrop for the growing area.

2.2.DataCollection. Each treatment was laid down in a totalplot area of 10m2 area (5meter row length having 5 numberof rows at 0.4m interrow spacing) and net plot area of 6m2.From the net plot area, seven plants were selected randomlyand tagged to collect the agronomic traits data (except grainyield) and the average values of the agronomic traits fromthe seven plants were considered for further statisticalanalysis. Grain yield of the genotypes was taken from the netplot area (6m2) of the three replications, and the averageyield was taken and converted in to yield per hectare. �edetailed explanation of the agronomic traits collected fromthis study and analyzed for further interpretation is eluci-dated below:

(i) Days to 50% Flowering (DF): the number of daysstarting from emergence up to 50% of the plants ineach plot becomes �owered

(ii) Days to 50% maturity (DM): the number of daysstarting from emergence up to 50% of the plants ineach plot becomes matured

(iii) Plant height at maturity (PH) (cm): this growthparameter is the stature of the plants in centimeter(cm) from the ground up to the top of the plants

(iv) Length of the pod-bearing zone (LPBZ) (cm): thestature of the plant from the �rst pod-bearing zoneto the tip of the plant was measured using a metertape

(v) Number of branches per plant (BPP): number ofproductive branches with one or more number ofpods

436,754390,625

619,033

482,812

431,709

307,512

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

Value (′000 USD)

Value (′000 USD)

Figure 1: Value ($USD) of exported Ethiopian sesame (2011/12-2016/17) (MoT, 2017).

2 International Journal of Agronomy

(vi) Number of pods per plant (PPP): refers to the totalnumber of pods in a given plant counted at thetime of maturity

(vii) Seeds per pod (SPP): the average number of sesameseeds counted per pod and the average number ofseeds collected from five plants and one pod fromeach plant

(viii) +ousand seed weight (gram) (TSW): the averageweight of 1000 seeds randomly collected from theharvested grain yield in grams

(ix) Grain yield (kg/ha): the total grain yield (kg/ha)harvested from the net plot area

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Variance Estimation of the Agronomic Traits. +e resultsof the agronomic traits obtained from the combined analysisof variance of the genotypes are illustrated in Table 3. +egenotype, year, and genotype by year interaction (G×Y)

variances were decomposed to provide a general overview inrelation to the evaluated traits and overall performance ofthe genotypes (Table 3). As a result, the genotype, year, andgenotype× year interaction components showed statisticallyhighly significant variation (p< 0.001) for most of the ag-ronomic traits. However, thousand seed weight (in gram)(TSW) was not statistically significant across years, andlength of the pod-bearing zone (LPBZ) was not statisticallysignificant in the genotype by year interaction (G×Y). +isstatistical difference was due to both of the main and in-teraction effects of the genotypes and the years. As indicatedin Table 3, the genotypes were clearly different in theiragronomic traits, and similarly the years, in which the ex-periment was conducted, were different mainly in therainfall received during that specific growing season (Fig-ure 2). Moreover, Table 3 clearly shows that the response ofthe genotypes were unstable and fluctuated in their traitexpression with change in the growing seasons. +ese allobservable facts clearly confirm the presence of genotype byyear interaction (G×Y) in this study. [7] also reported

Table 2: Genotypic code, status, and source of the evaluated sesame genotypes.

Genotype Genotype code Status Seed color Source of seedAcc-051-02-sel-(1) G1 Advanced line White WARCAcc-051-02-sel-1-(2) G2 Advanced line White WARCAcc-051-02-sel11--(1) G3 Advanced line White WARCAcc-051-02-sel-14 G4 Advanced line White WARCAcc-111-840 G5 Advanced line White WARCAcc-202-374 G6 Advanced line White WARCCross22XT-85(24-2) G7 Advanced line White WARCCross22XT-85(32-3)-sel-4 G8 Advanced line White WARCHirhir (local check) G9 Farmers seed (local check) White HuARCNN-038 G10 Advanced line White WARCSerkamo white G11 Advanced line White WARCTate G12 Released (standard check) White WARC

Table 1: Geographic position, soil property, and climatic condition description of the study area.

Location

Geographic position Climatic condition Soil characteristics

Latitude(°N)

Longitude(°E)

Altitude(m)

Annualrainfall(mm)

Min-maxtemperature

(°C)

TextureTotal N(%)

pHwater(1 : 2.5)

ECwater(1 : 2.5)Clay

(%)Silt(%)

Sand(%)

Humera 14°15′ 36°37′ 609 563.2 18.8–37.6 35.66 25.66 38.66 0.066 8.15 0.11

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec123 0 0 0 0 8 179 205 0 0 0 074 0 0 0 0 32 130 269 35 6 0 0

201320142015 0 0 8 35 33 117 164 234 151 6 0 0

050

100150200250300

Rain

fall

(mm

)

Figure 2: Monthly rainfall (mm) of the growing area during the three cropping seasons.

International Journal of Agronomy 3

similar differences of the genotype, year, and genotype× yearinteraction effects in sesame genotypes.

3.2. Agronomic Traits Performance of the Evaluated SesameGenotypes. Combined analysis of the 12 sesame genotypesevaluated in three different growing seasons is depicted inTable 4. +e result of the combined analysis showed that thegenotypes were significantly different in their grain yieldacross the three different growing seasons showing that thegenotypes were unstable in their grain yield. In addition tothis, the grain yield analysis showed that there was a sta-tistically significant difference among the genotypes in all ofthe agronomic traits and the genotypes were unstable, evenall of the other agronomic traits. Similarly, the grand meanacross years was significantly different, and the growingseasons were also not stable.

+e highest grain yield (906.3 kg/ha) was obtained fromHirhir (local check), which is a local cultivar, followed bySerkamo white (756.5 kg/ha). +is is because of the geneticdifference between the sesame genotypes, and because ofthis, farmers’ cultivar is well adapted to the growing envi-ronments (both the location and the years) [8]. Also, asignificant difference of sesame genotypes in their grainyields evaluated in different growing seasons is reported.Almost all of the newly evaluated advanced lines which wereexpected to be better than the farmers’ cultivar were beatenby the farmers’ cultivar in terms of grain yield. Furthermore,Hirhir was also the early maturing genotype (which maturedat 86.56) although it was as early maturing as some geno-types like Acc-051-02-sel-1-(2), Acc-202-374, and NN-038.Genotype Tate was better in its number of branches per plant(3.4 branches per plant) although it was statistically at parwith the local cultivar Hirhir (3.1 branches per plant).Similar to this study, there was a significant difference ingrain yield, number of branches per plant, and days tomaturity among the evaluated sesame genotypes [7, 9].Regarding to plant height, the highest stature (136.4 cm) wasrecorded from genotype Acc-051-02-sel-14 although it wasstatistically at par with other seven genotypes (Table 4). Interms of the pods per plant (PPP), the highest number ofpods per plant (35.16 PPP) was recorded from the localcultivar Hirhir. However, it was statistically nonsignificantwith Acc-051-02-sel-1-(2), Acc-051-02-sel11--(1), Acc-051-02-sel-14, Acc-202-374, Cross22XT-85(24-2), NN-038, andTate (Table 4). Number of pods per plant is among the mostimportant agronomic traits in sesame, so since most of the

evaluated sesame genotypes were equally important in theirpods per plant, most of these genotypes are important forfurther sesame breeding. Generally, since there are somegenotypes which are statistically nonsignificant with the bestfarmers’ cultivar in some of the major agronomic traits, thegenotypes should be maintained for further sesame breedingprogram.

3.3. Performance of the Sesame Genotypes across the 'reeYears. Performance of the sesame genotypes in terms oftheir agronomic traits evaluated in three different growingseasons is depicted in Table 5. +e growing seasons weredifferent from one another in allowing the genotypes tohave different performance [7]. +e agronomic traits ofsesame genotypes were different in different growingseasons [10]. Most of the agronomic traits, except thousandseed weight, were statistically different across the threegrowing seasons Table 5. [1] also found a significant dif-ference of different agronomic traits of wheat evaluatedacross years. +ere is a possibility for occurrence of suchvariation of genotypes in their agronomic traits acrossyears and even across locations, and this may be both achallenge and an opportunity for plant breeding andbreeders [11]. +e highest grain yield of the sesame ge-notypes was recorded in the second growing season (2014).+is might be because there was optimum and evenlydistributed rainfall during this growing season (Table 5).On the contrary, the highest number of branches per plant,length of the pod-bearing zone, plant height, and numberof pods per plant were recorded in the first growing season(2014).

+e combined performance of the different agronomictraits of the sesame genotypes is depicted in Table 4.However, Table 6 is organized to clearly visualize the per-formance of the different agronomic traits of the sesamegenotypes evaluated in the three growing years. From thethree growing seasons, the highest grain yield (1161.5 kg/ha)was recorded from the local cultivar Hirhir grown in thesecond growing season (2014). Similarly, the highest lengthof the pod-bearing zone (81.8 cm) and plant stature(170.3 cm) was recorded from the local cultivar Hirhir grownin the first growing season (2013). In terms of the numberPPP and number of SPP, the highest PPP (41 PPP) and thehighest SPP (64.7 SPP) were obtained from Acc-202-374grown in 2013 and Hirhir grown in 2014 growing season,respectively (Table 6).

Table 3: Combined mean squares for different agronomic traits of sesame genotypes.

Source of variation d.f. Yield DF DM BPP LPBZ PH PPP SPP TSWReplication 2 5476 10.3 5.28 0.66 148.6 8.6 29.15 22.9 0.06Genotype 11 94028∗∗∗ 10.7∗∗∗ 7.613∗∗∗ 1.1∗∗∗ 695.3∗∗ 603.9∗∗∗ 121∗∗ 83.3∗∗∗ 0.09∗∗Year 2 1166827∗∗∗ 1080.3∗∗ 1261.8∗∗ 37.2∗∗ 5396.3∗ 11895.6∗∗ 1951.2∗∗ 69.4∗ 0.006nsGen× year 22 28127∗∗∗ 2.7∗∗ 6.9∗∗∗ 0.8∗∗∗ 230.3ns 332.2∗ 117.1∗∗∗ 35.3∗ 0.071∗∗Residual 70 7079 1.21 1.16 0.25 141.4 159 37.15 17.5 0.02ns: nonsignificant; ∗significant (p< 0.05); ∗∗highly significant at p< 0.01;∗∗∗highly significant at p< 0.001; d.f.: degree of freedom; DF: days to 50% flowering;DM: days to 50% maturity; BPP: number of branches per plant; LPBZ: length of the pod-bearing zone (cm); PH: plant height (cm); PPP: pods per plant; SPP:seeds per pod; TSW: thousand seed weight (gram).

4 International Journal of Agronomy

Table 5: Agronomic traits of the sesame genotypes for the three years (growing seasons).

Year Yield (kg/ha) DF DM BPP LPBZ (cm) PH (cm) PPP SPP TSW (gram)1 498.2c 51.9c 94.7c 3.88a 62.1a 145.5a 36.4a 58ab 2.92 849.2a 41.2a 86.2b 2.33b 59.1a 124.5b 32.8b 56.61b 2.8833 604.4b 44.4b 83.3a 1.96c 39.5b 109.3c 22.2c 59.39a 2.894Grand mean 650.6 45.89 88.09 2.73 53.57 126.43 30.49 58 2.89LSD (<0.05) 67.5 0.74 0.82 0.32 6.93 7.29 3.71 2.49 nsCV (%) 22.2 3.5 2 25.3 27.7 12.3 26.1 9.2 6.7

Table 6: Yield and yield components of sesame genotypes evaluated in the three growing years.

Genotype Agronomic trait Yield (kg/ha) DF (days) DM (days) LPBZ (cm)Year 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3

Acc-051-02-sel-(1) 428.8 724.9 517.0 50.7 39.3 42.7 95.0 87.0 82.0 54.1 62.3 32.9Acc-051-02-sel-1-(2) 501.0 915.4 469.0 52.0 42.3 42.7 94.0 84.0 82.7 58.2 57.4 32.8Acc-051-02-sel-14 537.4 886.9 573.7 50.7 40.0 45.0 95.0 85.0 86.0 64.9 79.9 43.5Acc-051-02-sel11--(1) 416.4 917.8 660.2 51.3 40.7 43.7 94.7 89.0 85.0 40.8 62.3 45.5Acc-111-840 320.9 783.1 509.9 55.3 42.7 45.7 94.3 87.3 83.0 37.2 34.1 28.1Acc-202-374 577.6 823.5 500.1 52.0 41.7 44.3 93.7 85.3 83.7 66.1 57.6 35.9cross22XT-85(24-2) 405.2 605.1 722.5 51.3 40.7 46.0 66.7 84.0 83.0 72.5 59.8 38.3cross22XT-85(32-3)-sel-4 317.8 852.2 523.9 53.3 42.3 44.7 94.3 88.0 82.3 68.3 55.8 46.5Hirhir (local check) 679.7 1161.5 877.7 52.3 40.0 43.3 95.0 83.0 81.7 81.8 62.1 61.4NN-038 513.7 752.4 592.1 50.7 41.0 44.0 94.3 84.0 83.7 79.5 58.7 42.9Serkamo white 582.2 917.8 769.4 51.0 41.7 43.7 94.3 89.0 84.0 52.7 60.7 39.7Tate 697.6 850.4 537.1 52.7 43.0 47.7 95.3 89.0 83.0 69.3 57.9 27.1Grand mean 498.2 849.3 604.4 51.9 41.3 44.4 92.2 86.2 83.3 62.1 59.1 39.6

Genotype Agronomic trait PH (cm) PPP (number) SPP (number) TSW (gram)Year 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3

Acc-051-02-sel-(1) 119.3 122.7 105.1 28.7 37.3 15.5 59.9 62.3 64.0 2.9 2.9 2.6Acc-051-02-sel-1-(2) 142.3 112.3 101.7 40.1 30.3 22.6 59.0 60.1 56.9 3.0 3.0 3.0Acc-051-02-sel-14 146.4 140.7 122.2 34.1 43.7 24.7 58.1 52.7 62.9 3.0 3.0 2.8Acc-051-02-sel11--(1) 144.8 132.1 130.3 34.3 32.5 29.3 62.8 63.9 60.9 3.0 3.0 2.9Acc-111-840 138.0 124.9 99.0 26.9 28.0 13.6 58.3 52.7 61.6 2.6 2.6 3.0Acc-202-374 156.0 126.7 109.1 41.0 31.9 20.3 61.5 60.1 55.3 2.8 2.8 2.8Cross22XT-85(24-2) 146.2 127.9 115.7 38.4 36.0 19.5 55.9 53.9 63.5 2.8 2.8 3.0Cross22XT-85(32-3)-sel-4 134.3 127.7 118.3 30.3 25.9 25.2 54.7 48.5 57.7 2.9 2.9 3.2Hirhir (local check) 170.3 114.8 104.0 36.9 34.9 33.7 60.8 64.7 57.8 3.2 3.0 2.9NN-038 157.9 116.9 103.2 55.5 26.0 20.8 52.5 49.8 57.4 2.8 2.8 3.0Serkamo white 158.9 126.5 120.4 30.1 29.6 21.9 58.3 59.0 56.9 3.2 3.2 2.7Tate 131.3 121.0 82.1 40.5 37.7 19.8 54.2 51.6 57.9 2.7 2.7 3.0Grand mean 145.5 124.5 109.3 36.4 32.8 22.2 58.0 56.6 59.4 2.9 2.9 2.9

Table 4: Combined mean yield (kg/ha) and yield components of the sesame genotypes evaluated in three years.

Genotypes Yield DF DM BPP LPBZ PH PPP SPP TSWAcc-051-02-sel-(1) 556.9de 44.2a 88cd 2.5cdef 49.7c 115.7de 27.2bc 62.0a 2.7deAcc-051-02-sel-1-(2) 628.4cd 45.6b 86.89ab 2.8bcde 49.4c 118.8cde 31.02ab 58.68ab 2.9abAcc-051-02-sel11--(1) 664.8c 45.2ab 89.56f 2.5cdef 49.5c 135.7a 32.04ab 62.52a 2.9abAcc-051-02-sel-14 666c 45.2ab 88.67def 2.8bcd 62.7ab 136.4a 34.13a 57.88bc 2.9abAcc-111-840 538e 47.8e 88.22cde 2.4ef 33.1d 120.6bcde 22.84c 57.53bcd 2.7eAcc-202-374 633.7cd 46bc 87.56abc 2.9bc 53.2bc 130.6ab 31.09ab 58.93ab 2.8deCross22XT-85(24-2) 577.6de 46bc 87.89bcd 2.4def 56.8bc 129.9abc 31.31ab 57.78bc 2.8bcdCross22XT-85(32-3)-sel-4 564.7de 46.7cd 88.22cde 2.4def 56.8bc 126.8abcd 27.13bc 53.6de 3aHirhir (local check) 906.3a 45.2ab 86.56a 3.1ab 68.4a 129.7abc 35.16a 61.11ab 3aNN-038 619.4cd 45.2ab 87.33abc 2.3f 60.3abc 126abcd 34.11a 53.24e 2.8cdeSerkamo white 756.5b 45.4b 89.11ef 2.7bcdef 51c 135.3a 27.21bc 58.07bc 3aTate 695bc 47.7de 89.11ef 3.4a 51.4c 111.4e 32.67ab 54.59cde 2.7deGrand mean (kg/ha) 650.6 45.88 88.09 2.73 53.5 126.4 30.49 58 2.8LSD (<0.05) 137.01 1.79 1.7 0.82 19.3 20.5 9.9 6.8 0.22CV (%) 12.9 2.4 1.2 18.6 22.2 10 20 7.2 4.7

International Journal of Agronomy 5

3.4. Ordination of the SesameGenotypes and'eir AgronomicTraits. To clearly visualize the association of the sesamegenotypes and their agronomic traits, a biplot is depictedin Figure 3. In the ordination of the genotypes and theiragronomic traits, the first two principal components (PCs)accounted for 58% of the total variance (38.3% and 19.7%for PC1 and PC2, respectively) (Figure 3). A bi-plot wasused by [12] to visualize the associations of differentparametric and nonparametric stability measures in fababean.

+e importance and relationship between variableswithin a component are determined by the magnitude anddirection of factor loadings within a PC [13]. +e sign of theloading indicates the direction of the relationship betweenthe components and the agronomic traits. Principal com-ponent axis one (PCA1) that accounted for 38.3% of thevariation was positively associated with grain yield, branchesper plant, length of the pod-bearing zone, plant height,number of pods per plant, number of seeds pod, andthousand seed weight. In contrast to this, PCA1 was neg-atively associated with days to 50% flowering and 50%maturity. [14] also found a similar result to this finding. Incontrast to this, PCA1 was negatively associated with days to50% flowering and 50% maturity (Figure 3). [11, 14] alsofound similar results to this finding from their study onsesame genotypes.

In any plant breeding program, the final objective is toboost quality and/or quantity of a required crop. Knowingthe association between the required trait and other relatedtraits is a prerequisite for such programs. Yield is a de-pendable complex inherited character as a result of in-teraction of several contributing factors that may be relatedor unrelated. Hence, it is paramount important to see theassociation of the sesame genotypes and their agronomictraits and the association of the different agronomic traitsamong each other. Hence, according to Figure 3, days to 50%flowering (DF) and days to 50% maturity (DF) were neg-atively associated with most of the agronomic traits likethousand seed weight (TSW), grain yield (Yield), length ofthe pod-bearing zone (LPBZ), plant height (PH), pods perplant (PPP), and seeds per pod (SPP). G9 (Hirhir) waspositively and highly associated with the first principalcomponent (PCA1) as well as with the agronomic traits likeyield, pods per plant, and length of the pod-bearing zone.+is is also similar with Table 4, indicating that Hirhir scoredhighest grain yield (yield), length of the pod-bearing zone(LPBZ), and pods per plant (PPP). In the contrary, G5 (Acc-111-840), G12 (Tate), and G1 (Acc-051-02-sel-(1)) werepositively associated with the second component (PCA2)and with the agronomic traits of days to 50% flowering anddays to 50% maturity.

4. Conclusion and Recommendation

+e genotype, year, and genotype× year interaction com-ponents showed statistically highly significant variation(p< 0.001) for most of the agronomic traits of the sesamegenotypes which confirm the presence of genotype by yearinteraction (G×Y) in this study.

Regarding the grain yield, the highest grain yield (906.3 kg/ha) was obtained from Hirhir followed by Serkamo white(756.5 kg/ha). Generally, since there are some genotypes whichare statistically nonsignificant with the best Hirhir in some ofthe major agronomic traits, the genotypes should be main-tained for further sesame breeding program. On the contrary,the highest grain yield of the genotypes was recorded in thesecond growing season (2014), and the highest grain yield(1161.5 kg/ha) was recorded from the local cultivar Hirhir.

Principal component axis one (PCA1) that accounted for38.3% of the variation was positively associated with grainyield, branches per plant, length of the pod-bearing zone,plant height, number of pods per plant, number of seedspod, and thousand seed weight. On the contrary, the secondcomponent axis (PCA2) which accounted for 19.7% of thevariation was positively associated with days to 50% flow-ering and days to 50% maturity.

Finally, this study is of paramount importance to identifythe best genotypes in terms of the different agronomic traitsand to investigate the agronomic performance of sesamegenotypes across different growing seasons, and this studyalso forwards for sesame researchers to carry out differentresearches across locations and across years.

Data Availability

+e supplementary material file includes data used for theanalysis of this manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest

+e authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Supplementary Materials

+e abbreviations and the words they stand for listed below:DF, days to 50% flowering; DM, days to 50% maturity; BPP,

Yield

DF

DM

BPP

LPBZ

PH

PPP

SPP

TSWG1

G2

G3

G4G5

G6

G7G8

G9

G10

G11

G12

–5 –4 –3 –2 –1 1 2 3

PCA 1 (38.3%)

–1.8

–1.2

–0.6

0.6

1.2

1.8

2.4

3.0

3.6

PCA

2 (1

9.7%

)

Figure 3: Principal component analysis scatter diagram of sesamegenotypes and their agronomic traits (genotype codes and agro-nomic traits are as designated in Tables 2 and 3, respectively).

6 International Journal of Agronomy

number of branches per plant; PH, plant height (cm); PPP,pods per plant; SPP, seeds per pod; LPBZ, length of the pod-bearing zone (cm); TSW, thousand seed weight (gram). +eexperiment was conducted for three years in Humera in arandomized complete block design with three replications.12 advanced lines which come from previous selections wereused in the experiment, and these advanced lines were testedfor three years. All of the yielded and other agronomic traitswere collected from the 12 advanced lines conducted forthree years. (Supplementary Materials)

References

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