Multivariate Analysis for Yield and Yield Attributes in Sesame Germplasm (Sesamum indicum L.)

Sesame is one of the important oilseed crops grown in India. Sesame is one of the oldest crops known to mankind because of its nutritious nature. The aim of the study is to determine the most diverse genotypes and important traits influencing sesame seed yield for the crop improvement. Hence, 57 sesame germplasm accessions were used to understand the variation and association among them based on the results of cluster analysis, correlation and principal component analysis (PCA). Cluster analysis showed that, all the 57 accessions were grouped into six clusters among which cluster I had more number of genotypes followed by cluster II and cluster IV. The correlation analysis, showed that single plant yield was positively correlated to days to first flowering and days to 50% flowering. The trait number of capsules per plant had positive correlation with plant height and number of branches per plant. The principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that traits plant height, days to 1st flowering, number of branches per plant and days to 50% flowering are the major principal component traits contributing to the 40 % of total variation among the cumulative variation of 77% from the yield contributing traits. Thus, overall multivariate analysis results reveals that the trait number of capsules per plant, capsule length and number of seeds per capsule were the major trait contributing to the seed yield in sesame. Thus, selection of heterotic parents would be highly useful in sesame hybridization programme.