~ 585 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2018; 7(5): 585-590 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2018; 7(5): 585-590 Received: 14-07-2018 Accepted: 15-08-2018 Ghanashyam Haibru Post Graduate Student, College of Agriculture, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Manasi Dash Dept. Of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Bansidhar Pradhan Dept. Of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Devrak Lenka Dept. Of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Sapan Kumer Tripathy Dept. of Agril. Biotechnology, College Of Agriculture, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Correspondence Manasi Dash Dept. Of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Genetic parameters of variability and character association studies for yield and some capsule shattering traits in sesame germplasm Ghanashyam Haibru, Manasi Dash, Bansidhar Pradhan, Devrak Lenka and Sapan Kumer Tripathy Abstract Forty five genotypes of sesame were evaluated to have an idea about their performance and to study the correlation basing on yield and yield related characters including capsule shattering related traits. Analysis of variance indicated highly significant differences among the genotypes with respect to all the characters indicating wide variability. High magnitude of PCV and GCV was recorded for branch number per plant, capsule number per plant, seed weight per capsule, capsule split before and after 4drying, capsule opening before and after drying as well as seed yield per plant. This indicated relatively higher contribution of these characters towards genetic variability. High estimates of heritability were recorded for all characters. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was recorded for all the characters except days to maturity, plant height and capsule length. Seed yield showed a highly significant and positive correlation with capsule number per plant and plant height. Low to medium capsule split and opening along with medium capsule constriction is a desirable capsule character for developing semi shattering semi shattering sesame genotypes by recombination breeding. Keywords: Sesame, genetic variability, heritability, character association, capsule shattering Introduction Sesame (Sesamum indicumL.) is a traditional oilseed crop having immense medicinal and therapeutic properties. The chemical composition of sesame shows that the seed is an important source of oil (50–60%), protein (18–25%), carbohydrates (13.5%) and ash (5%) (Saeed et al., 2015; Gharby et al., 2017) [1, 2] . Around 35% of oil present in sesame consists of monounsaturated fatty acids and 44% polyunsaturated fatty acids. The seed oil exhibits remarkable stability to oxidation due to the presence of antioxidants like sesamol, sesamolin and sesamin (Yoshida & Takagi, 1999) [3] and hence known as “queen of oilseeds”. The quantity and quality of the oil depend on ecological, physiological and genetic factors (Rahman et al., 2007; Ogbonna and Ukaan, 2013) [4, 5] . In spite of its nutritional value, it is not a preferred crop by the farmers as compared to other oilseed crops due to low harvest index, lack of wider adaptability, susceptibility to diseases and pests, indeterminate growth habit, non-synchronous and capsule shattering at maturity (Yol and Uzun, 2012) [6] . Capsule shattering at maturity is one of the major reasons for low yield. Hence developing sesame genotypes with semi shattering habit will reduce seed loss in field at maturity. One of the characters determining semi shatterness is that the capsules should have lower extent of capsule split and higher seed retention capacity during maturity. This will ensure delay opening of mature capsules in the field and release seeds easily on threshing (Langham, 1998) [7] . Therefore, development of semi shattering genotypes with good seed retention capacity will be useful in maintaining seed quality and help in reducing the yield loss due to capsule shattering in the field. However, less information is available on this aspect in sesame. Realizing the importance of development of semi shattering varieties with high yield potential, the aim of the present study was to study the extent of genetic variability in the sesame germplasm and to examine the nature and magnitude of character association for capsule characters related to shattering among the sesame genotypes for genetic enhancement. Materials and methods Experimental material for the present investigation comprised of forty five sesame genotypes screened for capsule shattering characters at the experimental farm of Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, India during kharif season of the agricultural year 2017-18. The field lay out was done in randomized block design with three replications. Each entry was represented by 2 row plot of 2 m length with a line-to-line spacing of 30 cm apart.