Genetic diversity among landraces of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an ancient oil crop that belongs to the family Pedaliaceae. Ten Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) markers were used to study patterns of genetic variation within and among 50 sesame populations representing the existing Ethiopian collections. The Polymorphism Information Contents (PICs) of the markers ranged from 0.393 to 0.820.The established SSR markers will be very useful for further diversity analyses among a large landrace collection of Ethiopian sesame and in the establishment of a core collection. Moreover, existence of great genetic variability between the landraces is a good starting point of sesame crop improvement programs in Ethiopia.