Investigating the Genetic Variation of Salt Tolerance in Three Growth Stages of Sesame Plant

Sesame is one of the oil plants that has been cultivated for a long time. Unfortunately, the low yield of sesame and the easier production of other oil seeds have caused less attention to be paid to the cultivation of this plant, so it is necessary to take action in the direction of producing high-yielding cultivars. Soil salinity is an essential factor that affects the growth, development, and productivity of almost all land plants, including sesame. Increasing the concentration of salt in the plant growth environment leads to an increase in Na+ and Cl- ions in plants and induces oxidative stress, osmotic stress, and ion toxicity. Seed germination and early seedling growth are critical stages in the plant life cycle that largely determine crop yield. In this experiment, the sesame plant was investigated in three stages: germination (germination indices), seedling (phenotypic characteristics of seedling, SOD, CAT activities, MDA and H2O2 content), and maturity stage. Therefore, 21 different sesame cultivars were studied for genetic diversity and heritability of traits. Also, the relationship between traits in three stages and the influence of morphological traits in the farm environment were measured. Cultivars were grouped using these traits, and cultivars tolerant and sensitive to salinity stress were identified. The cultivars studied were divided into two groups, and high-yielding genotypes such as Oltan, 159, Naz Chandshakhe, Yellowwhite, Maghan, 418, American, and Chinese were placed in one group. To obtain new recombinant, the genotypes of distant clusters are used as parents for the hybridization program. The use of selected traits in the sesame breeding program increases yield.