Perspectives and technological advances for sesame at AgroBrasília

Sesame cultivation has been gaining ground among crops in the Center-West and will be one of Embrapa's highlights at the Cerrados International Fair – AgroBrasília, which will be held in digital format from July 6th to 13th. During this period, interested parties will be able to watch a lecture by Embrapa Algodão researcher, Nair Arriel, who will address the topic “Perspectives and technological advances for sesame cultivation”. 

The researcher will focus on the economic, agronomic and social potential of the crop, which features broad adaptability to different regions of the country, drought tolerance, ease of management, high oil content and high chemical stability. All of these characteristics, associated with the broad foreign market, are favorable to the expansion of the crop, which doubled production in the last harvest compared to the 2018 harvest. Sesame is an option for rotation with cotton, soybean and corn crops.

Among the technologies that will be highlighted at the fair is BRS Morena, the most recent sesame cultivar launched by the company, with a reddish brown skin. The darker colored seed provides a differentiated flavor for fresh consumption and for the food industry, with a focus on the gourmet market. The cultivar has high grain productivity and an oil content of more than 50%. The productive potential is around 1.800 kilos per hectare. 

Another highlight is BRS Anahi, a sesame cultivar with superior agronomic performance compared to other cultivars in different regions of the country. In addition to high productivity, it has qualitative characteristics of interest to the industry, which meet the requirements of both the domestic and foreign markets. It has seeds with a clear skin, much larger than those available on the market, and adaptable to mechanized or manual harvesting. The cultivar presents greater seed retention in the capsules (semi-dehiscence), cream-colored seeds, an early cycle of around 90 days, a non-branched growth habit, an erect plant architecture, a productive potential of up to 1.600 kg/ha and a oil up to 52%.

Technologies for cotton cultivation

Technologies for cotton cultivation will also be presented, such as the long fiber cultivar BRS 433FL B2RF, with resistance to the herbicide glyphosate and the main species of caterpillars that attack cotton; in addition to recommendations for growing cover crops for direct seeding of cotton.