Quantitative dissection of antioxidative bioactive components in cultivated and wild sesame germplasm reveals potentially exploitable wide genetic variability

• Published in: Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology Vol. 17; no. 3; pp. 127 - 139
• Main Authors: Pathak, Niti, Rai, Ashwani Kumar, Saha, Supradip, Walia, Suresh, Sen, Soumitra Kumar, Bhat, Kangila Venkataraman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg The Korean Society of Crop Science 01.09.2014; 한국작물학회
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Life Sciences; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Research Article; 농학; wild species; sesamin; tocopherol; germplasm; sesamolin
• ISSN: 1975-9479; 2005-8276
• DOI: 10.1007/s12892-013-0112-8

Sesame ( Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the oldest oilseed crops grown in India and worldwide. This oilseed crop has high nutritional value due to the presence of antioxidants such as lignans and tocopherols. Screening of oilseed germplasm for important nutritional attributes is of prime importance in quality breeding programs. In the present study, the content of lignans (sesamin and sesamolin) and tocopherol homologues ( α -, γ -, and δ -tocopherol) was determined using reverse phase HPLC (RP-HPLC) in 143 sesame lines collected from diverse agro-ecological zones of India. Exploitable levels of sesamin, sesamolin, γ -, and δ -tocopherol was observed in the studied sesame lines. Sesamum indicum cultivar CO 1, introgressed line MKN 9, and Sesamum malabaricum showed high values for sesamin. Exotic and indigenous accessions of S. indicum (EC 542283 and IC 132176, IC 204681, IC 204773) showed high sesamolin contents. Cultivars, AKT 64, AKT 101, Phule til 1, and Tapi A showed high values for γ - and δ -tocopherol. The average content of sesamin and sesamolin was 0.86 and 0.50 mg g −1 seed, respectively. The average tocopherol content (292 μg g −1 seed) found in this study indicates the presence of a high amount of tocopherol in Indian sesame germplasm. Superior genotypes of sesame reported in this study could be utilized in sesame breeding programs for enhancing oil yield and nutritional attributes.