Classical Genetics of Sesame

Improving levels of yield potential, seed quality, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and the adaptation to cultivation mechanization are still the main breeding objectives in sesame in the past decades. To understand the species-specific genetic characteristics of sesame, we review the progress of classical genetics of the key traits including the phenology characters related to the growth and development, yield-related traits, seed quality traits, stress tolerance, and other important morphological and agronomic traits in sesame in this chapter. Especially, plenty of classical genetic studies of the quantitative traits in different genotypes and environments presented by worldwide sesame scientists are reviewed. The results of the classical genetic analysis provide the theoretical basis for elite alleles collection and molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) in sesame breeding.