Evaluation of drought tolerant cultivars and lines of sesame using stress tolerance indices

In order to evaluation drought tolerant of cultivars and lines of sesame, using indicators of "stress tolerance" two separate experiments, was carried out using randomized complete block design in three replications during crop year 2010-2011 at the agricultural research station of Zahak. In the no stress condition, irrigation was performed based on plant growth stages. And in condition of seasonʹs end stress, water interruption from flowering stage until end maturity (post–anthesis drought stress). The results showed that in the studied indices, three indices of MP, GMP and STI, with grain yield in stress and no stress conditions had the highest positive and significant correlations. Comparison of the values obtained from indices for each genotype showed that, "Darab-14" and "Sistan local" with having higher sustainability and performance in stress and non-stress conditions had the highest values of indices of STI, GMP and MP, and were determined as most tolerance genotypes with high yield, thus they can be used in breeding programs.