Investigation of Some Morphological Traits, Yield, Yield Components, and Oil Percentage of Sesame Genotypes under Drought Stress Conditions

In order to investigate the effect of drought stress on some morphological traits, yield, yield components, and oil percentage of sesame genotypes, an experiment has been conducted in form of split plots in a randomized complete block design with three replications during 2018 at the Research Farm of Velayat University, Iranshahr. Drought stress factor includes normal irrigation (based on 100 mm evaporation from Class A evaporation pan) and drought stress (based on 200 mm evaporation from Class A evaporation pan) as the main factor, while sesame cultivars, including Dashtestan 2 and 5, Yelovait, Jiroft13, Iandraces of Dom Siah, and Darab1 have been the subfactor. Results show that drought stress significantly reduces plant height, number of branch and capsule per plant, number of seed per capsule and seed, biological yield, and oil yield and percentage. The increase in seed yield under normal irrigation conditions has been 28.67%, compared to drought stress conditions. Among all cultivars, Darab-1 has had the highest seed and oil yield in comparison with other cultivars under both irrigation conditions; therefore, this cultivar will be suitable for cultivation in Iranshahr. The correlation results show that seed yield has had a positive and significant correlation with the number of capsules per plant, number of seed per capsule, biological yield, and 1000-seed weight, with the highest correlation being related to seed and oil yield.