Field Performance of Sesame Varieties under Rainfed Ecosystem in Southern Tamil Nadu, India

In Pudukottai district, sesame is cultivated in 3,000 ha and farmers are predominantly growing very old sesame variety TMV 3. This variety is more susceptible to pest and diseases which leads to increased cultivation cost towards plant protection measures as well as reduced yield and income. To overcome this problem, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Pudukkottai conducted On Farm Testing (OFT) in sesame varieties for promoting the high yielding varieties. Fifteen farmers were selected in different locations of Thiruvarankulam block, Pudukkottai district in Tamil Nadu. Critical inputs of seeds of sesame varieties like TMV 7 and G.Til 10 were distributed to the farmers. The plant physiological and yield parametersviz., plant height (cm), No. of branches, No. of capsules/ branch, capsule length (cm), seeds per capsule, Yield (q/ha) and BC ratio were recorded. The results revealed that, Among the sesame varieties tested, TMV 7 was recorded the maximum plant height (125 cm), number of branches (6.6), number of capsules per plant (43.5), capsules length ( 3.3 cm), No of seeds per capsule ( 57) which resulting in the highest yield of 7.8 q/ha followed by sesame G.Til 10 which recorded more plant height (120 cm), number of branches (6.0), number of capsules per plant (38.2) capsules length ( 3.1 cm), No of seeds per capsule ( 51) and yield of 7.3 q/ha compared to farmers variety cultivating variety TMV 3 which registered the lowest plant physiological parameters and yield (6.4 q/ha). The maximum B:C ratio was recorded in sesame variety TMV 7 (3.12) followed by G.Til 10 ( 2.92) over the variety TMV 3 (2.84). From this trial, it was concluded that, farmers are satisfied with the sesame TMV 7 variety for cultivation due to its low pest and disease incidence, higher yield and BC ratio.