Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), often called the queen of oilseeds, plays a crucial role in nutrition, oil production and rural livelihoods. Despite its inherent resilience, sesame remains vulnerable to climate change, especially as it is largely cultivated on rainfed and marginal lands. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns and extreme weather events significantly affect its productivity. Critical developmental stages such as flowering and seed filling are particularly sensitive, experiencing yield losses up to 40-70 % under combined drought and heat stress. These abiotic stresses also reduce seed size and weight and alter oil quality by disrupting fatty acid composition. However, genotypic variability offers promising drought and heat-tolerant sesame lines with adaptive physiological and biochemical traits. Advances in molecular breeding, omics technologies and genome editing (e.g., CRISPR-Cas9) provide hope for climate-resilient sesame improvement. Agronomic interventions like mulching, biofertilizers and precision irrigation further enhance resilience. This review consolidates recent research on sesame's physiological, biochemical and genetic responses to climate stress and explores integrated strategies for sustainable sesame cultivation under future climate scenarios.
Selvan et al. (Tue,) studied this question.