Evaluation of New Sesame Varieties for Growth and Yield Performance during the Deyr Season in Afgoye, Somalia

Aims: The field experiment was conducted to evaluate new sesame varieties for growth and yield performance.

Study Design: A randomized completely block design (RCBD) with four replications was used for the experiment.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted during the Deyr season (September-November) 2016 at the experimental farm of Somali Agriculture Technical Group (SATG), Afgoye, Somalia.

Methodology: Growth and yield characters of the varieties were measured during the trial. A complete of six sesame varieties was used for the trial. The new varieties were Setit, Yemeni, Nigerian, Humera and Indian while a local variety, Dunyar, was used as a control.

Results: Results from the experiment revealed that growth parameters such capsule length, number of branches per ∙plant, number of capsules per plant and number of seeds per capsule were significantly different among the varieties. Yield performance of the sesame varieties was also significantly different. It was observed that Humera variety showed the highest seed yield of 2.82 ton per hectare while the Indian variety has given the lowest seed yield of 0.67 ton per hectare. The highest straw yield of 3.45 ton per hectare was recorded for Local variety while the lowest straw yield of 2.76 ton per hectare was observed in Setit variety. Likewise the highest biological yield of 6.18 ton per hectare was observed at Dunyar variety while the lowest biological yield of 3.61 ton per hectare was recorded for Indian variety.

Conclusion: The growth and yield of these particular varieties did not outperform the local variety, thus, future studies would be essential to look for other alternative methods and cultivars that would help increase the productivity.