Effects of Different Irrigation Levels and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Morphological Traits and Grain Yield of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Landraces

In order to investigate the effects of different levels of drought stress and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungion yield and morphological traits of eight landraces sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), an experiment was conducted using factorial split plot based on randomized complete block design with three replications in Research Station of Urmia Agricultural High School in 2014-2015 growing season. The main factor consisted of different levels of irrigation namely no drought stress irrigation (irrigation after 70 mm evapotranspiration), moderate drought stress (irrigation after 90 mm evapotranspiration) and severe drought stress (irrigation after 110 mm evapotranspiration) and mycorrhizal inoculation were considered as subplots including Glomus mosseae, Glomus intraradices and non-inoculated (control). Sub-sub plots consisted of eight landraces of sesame Jiroft13, Zanjan Tarom landrace, Moghan landrace, Naz of several branches, TC-25¡ TS-3, Darab 14 and Dashtestan 5. The results of variance analysis showed that the effects of different levels of irrigation, mycorrhizal fungi and sesamegenotypes on traits were significant. Means values comparison showed that with increasing severity of drought stress, grain yield, plant height, stem diameter, leaf, stem and capsule with grain dry weight, number of grains per square meter and number of branches per plant decreased significantly. Severe drought stress reduced grain yield and number of grains per square meter about 63 and 70 percent, respectively. Symbiosis mycorrhizal fungi improved all the above mentioned traits. Based on the results of this study, for increasing grain yield and morphological traits using mycorrhizal fungi especially, G.mosseae species was recommended. Also in three different irrigation conditions, Moghan landrace and Zanjan Tarom landrace were presented as superior landraces.