www.revistabionatura.com Bionatura Issue 1 Vol 8 No 1 2023 Effect of plant distance and cultivation methods on the growth and yield of three sesame cultivars Bushra Sh J. ALobaidy 1* , Malath A. Hamed 1 , Ahmed Shehab Abd-allah Ramadan 1 , Muayad Malik Ibrahim 2 , and Ali Fadaam Almehemdi 3 1 University of Anbar, College of Agriculture, Department of Field Crops 2 University of Anbar - College of Basic Education \ Haditha - Department of Science. 3 Ministry of Agriculture, Iraq. 4 Center of Desert Studies University of Anbar. Iraq. * Correspondence:ag.bushra.shaker@uoanbar.edu.iq. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.21931/RB/ 2023.08.01.4 ABSTRACT A field experiment was carried out in Al-Saqlawiyah region, west of Baghdad, during the 2020 agricultural season in silty clay soil to study the effect of planting pattern and the Row spacing on the growth and yield of three sesame cultivars. The experiment was carried out in a split-split plot design according to a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications, where the planting pattern occupied the main plots (seed prose, seedling pattern). The cultivars occupied the subplot (Haad, Sumer, Rafidain,), while the row distance occupied the sub-sub plot (40, 60, 80 cm). The statistical analysis results indicated a significant effect of the cultivation pattern, as the cultivation pattern with seeds prose recorded the highest values in all the studied traits. The seed prose method recorded the highest seed yield (364.5 gm plant -1 ) compared to the seedling method (290.2 gm plant -1 ). There was also a significant genetic variance (P<0.05) in the response of the studied sesame cultivars to the planting pattern treatments and the between-row spacing. The cultivar Haad scored the highest values in most of the studied traits and thus gave the highest seed yield (452.1 g plant -1 ) compared with the rest of the studied cultivars. The row spacing of 80 cm between the lines gave the highest yield (350.4 g plant -1 ). Keywords: plant distance, cultivation methods, growth, sesame cultivars INTRODUCTION Vegetable oils are important in the human diet, directly or in the food and non- food industries, and oilseed residues are used as animal feed. Sesame is one of the important oil crops in the world, as sesame seeds are used to decorate some types of bread, pastries and sweets. Sesame has been planted since ancient times to obtain its seeds, among the richest crops in fatty substances. Its oil content ranges between 50% and 65%, and its protein content ranges between 22% and 25% 1 . Farmers and plant breeders are in a race against time. The population increase in the world is accelerating, which requires more food in return for decreasing areas of arable land. On the other hand, the challenges brought about by climatic changes are increasing daily. Temperature and greenhouse factors