YIELD AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF SESAME (SESAMUM INDICUM L.) VARIETIES IN RESPONSE TO PLANT GROWTH PROMOTERS

Abstract

Sesame is one of the important oilseeds across the globe for edible, pharmaceutical and cosmetic purposes. Sesame is low water requiring crop and grows well on marginal land with less inputs. The study aimed to evaluate the growth, yield and oil content of three sesame varieties TS-3, TS-5 and TH-6 in response to various foliar applications of salicylate (50 mgL(-1)), ascorbate (50 mgL(-1)), hydrogen peroxide (40 mu ML-1) and L-Methionine (150 mgL(-1)). Field trial was executed during May 2021 at Agronomic Research Farm, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad by employing factorial design and three replications. Irrigation was applied first at 25 days after sowing and second after 70 days while as the foliar amendments of growth promoters was applied at 50, 60 and 70 days of crop life. From the results of this experiment, it is concluded that, the variety TH-6 is short duration as compared to other varieties. Effect of foliar application showed significant impact on sesame varieties. The best results were recorded under salicylic acid treatments followed by ascorbic acid and L-methionine while as the least response was recorded without foliar application. The number of seeds per pod, harvest index, thousand seed weight, seed yield kgha(-1) and oil contents were recorded maximum under variety TH-6 when exposed to salicylic acid treatment while as the minimum response was showed in variety TS-3. Moreover, the highest phenolic content was determined by employing ascorbic acid (50 mgL(-1)) followed by salicylic acid (50 mgL(-1)) and the lowest findings were recorded where without foliar application. However, the emerged proline content was assessed in all sesame varieties with control treatment whereas the least findings were recorded from L-Methionine (150 mgL(-1)) treatment.