Molecular analysis of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) seeds sampled from northern Nigeria

Abstract

Sesame seed, commonly called benniseed, is among the most valued seeds and seed oil with significant nutritional and medicinal uses to an everyday man. Nigeria is ranked the 3rd largest in (Sesamum indicum L.) cultivation. Rated the world’s healthiest food as well as its cash crop values, cultivations by farmers in the region are still mostly based on heterogeneous landraces which are less productive but harbours useful genes needed for further improvement. The diversity of 45 landraces sampled from three states out of the six geo-political zones of North Central (Nasarawa), North Eastern (Bauchi), and North Western (Kano states) in Nigeria where sesame is commonly cultivated was assessed using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers. Phylogenetic relations were determined using UPGMA cluster analysis; multivariate grouping and polymorphic information content (PIC) were calculated using standard procedures. Primers SEM8, SEM9 and SEM10 gave 100% polymorphism. The landraces were grouped into six clusters depicted in the dendrogram and this was at a similarity coefficient of 67%. Var01 (KBi1) collected from Bichi LGA of Kano state was genetically distinct from all others at a dissimilarity coefficient of 0.33. The value in the polymorphic information contents was in the range 0.137 for (SEM9) to 0.712 (SM8). Primer SM8 was most informative with the highest PIC (0.712). This study revealed that the 45 sesame landraces sampled from three northern states in Nigeria constitute six major genetic clusters which grouped all into 25 landraces basically distributed around the northern regions of Nigeria.