The variation in oil content, oil yield and fatty acid compositions of 103 sesame landraces was investigated. The landraces varied widely in their oil quantity and quality. The oil content varied between 41.3 and 62.7%, the average being 53.3%. The percentage content of linoleic, oleic, palmitic and stearic acids in the seed oil ranged between 40.7-49.3, 29.3-41.4, 8.0-10.3 and 2.1-4.8%, respectively. Linolenic and arachidic acids were the minor constituents of the sesame oil. Linoleic and oleic acids were the major fatty acids of sesame with average values of 45.7 and 37.2%, respectively. The total means of oleic and linoleic acids as unsaturated fatty acids of sesame were about 83% which increases the suitability of the sesame oil for human consumption. The superiority of the collection was observed in oil content. The oil content of a few accessions was above 60%, proving claims that some varieties of sesame can reach up to 63% in oil content. The accessions with the highest oil content were relatively richer in the linoleic acid content while there were some landraces in which linoleic and oleic acid contents were in a proportion of almost 1:1. The results obtained in this study provide useful background information for developing new cultivars with a high oil content and different fatty acid compositions. Several accessions could be used as parental lines in breeding programmes aiming to increase sesame oil quantity and quality.

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The conservation of plant germplasm is essential to ensure future breeding gains and crop bio‐diversity. To be truly useful, such germplasm must be characterized for morphological traits and genetic diversity. In this work, agro‐morphological diversity was assessed in 137 Turkish sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) genotypes (129 accessions and eight cultivars) by examination of eight qualitative and nine quantitative traits. As expected, morphological variability in the cultivars was low with broader diversity present in sesame accessions. However, some accessions were identified with interesting features, such as increased number of capsules and seed yield, which could be employed in future cultivar development. The sesame genotypes were analyzed for molecular genetic diversity with 140 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) loci. The results indicated a relatively low level of variability with an average dissimilarity value of 0.33 for all genotypes. Population structure was also examined and indicated that the material fell into two subpopulations. As most of the accessions (82%) were obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and are not yet housed in the Turkish national sesame germplasm collection, the data were used to identify a core set of 22 accessions that should be preserved in Turkey. The importance of using both molecular and morphological data for core selection is highlighted with a focus on germplasm preservation and breeding.

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