Determination of Suitable Variety and Seed Rate of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L) in Sandy Dunes of Kordofan, Sudan

Sesame is almost entirely cultivated under rain-fed in the Sudan. There is increasing evidence that the uses of poor management practices (especially the practice of low seed rate) as well as traditional cultivars are the main yield lim- iting factors in sesame farms of sandy dunes in north kordofan of Sudan. Field experiment was conducted to determine the effects of four different seed rates on the growth, yield and yield components of three sesame varieties. Three varieties of sesame (Sesamum indicum L), Elobeid1, Promo (recently improved cultivars) and Hirhri (an old traditional cultivar) were used. The plants were sown at four seed rate: 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 kg ha -1 . The results indicated that increasing seed rate significantly decreased the number of capsules per plant and seed yield per plant. Seed rates of 1.5 and 2.0 kg ha -1 were optimum to maximizing seed yield per unit area. The three cultivars had relative similarities in final seed yield (ton ha -1 ).