MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND GENETIC DIVERGENCE IN MYANMAR SESAME (SESAMUM INDICUM L.) GERMPLASM.

Loss of genetic diversity proceeds at a fast rate due to climate change, over-exploitations, replacement of traditional cultivars and agri-modernization in the dry zone. Therefore, it is needed to evaluate the morphology of sesame germplasm from different origins and to identify the genetic diversity of cultivated sesame germplasm collected from different ecological conditions. Forty collected sesame germplasm from diverse ecological conditions are characterized during pre-monsoon season from February to May 2014 at the upland research field of Department of Plant Breeding, Physiology and Ecology, Yezin Agricultural University (YAU), Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. The experimental design was Randomized Complete Block Design with two replications. All germplasm showed wide range of variability for stem, leaf and flower traits, and yield and yield component characters. Progeny selection will be effective to improve the number of primary branches per plant, number of capsules per plant and seed yield per plant indicating high heritability with high genetic advance. In correlation analysis, days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, plant height, number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, number of capsules per plant and capsule length were found to be the main yield contributing traits in sesame production. By cluster analysis, ten clusters may help in germplasm selection as breeding materials for production of climate-friendly cultivars of sesame.