An accidental discovery may soon change the agricultural production of sesame seeds on a global scale. When Israeli scientist Zvi Peleg was in Ethiopia on a research trip in 2008, he stumbled upon a plant he had never seen before, and had to know more.
“It is not a crop grown in Israel and we never saw it before,” Peleg told The Media Line. The fact that the sesame plant is not native to Israel is quite a surprise considering it’s a staple food here. It can be found on everything from hamburger buns to pizza crust and is the essential ingredient in traditional foods like tahini and the sweet halva dessert.
“I saw the sesame plants and it looked very exciting,” Peleg continued.” People were still harvesting it by hand using very traditional methods, so from there were started the project.”
Peleg, a senior lecturer at Hebrew University’s Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, and his research team are now trying to introduce the sesame seed co-op into modern agriculture using genetic tools.
“We’re developing a biotechnology approach that enables us to improve the breeding process for faster breeding so that we can process a lot more plants at a better selection,” he clarified.
Calvin Trostle, a professor at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, says improving seed production is a process that currently takes “anywhere from 8 to 12 years to come to market with an improved genetic line of sesame, whether it is higher yield, higher oil content, natural resistance or tolerance to a particular insect of plant disease.”
He says breeders must identify thousands of genetic lines every year and manually cross pollen with floral structures to determine new desired traits.
“Dr. Peleg is combining these newer methods with conventional plant breeding,” Trostle said. If successful, he predicts Peleg will be able to “accelerate the process by a couple of years, and/or increase the number of genetic lines he is able to evaluate.”
Peleg is expected to face some obstacles. He told The Media Line sesame seeds are considered an “orphan crop” because not much research has been done on them. In fact, in the Journal for Food Research, an international database, there is only one entry related to sesame seed research.
Trostle suggests not much research has been done because although the oil is valuable, sesame seeds overall have a relatively low crop value.
“The higher the crop value,” he explained to The Media Line, “the more hectares it is grown on, the more money that private and public entities can economically justify spending research money.”
Economically speaking, according to Trostle’s findings, sesame seeds grown in Texas’ dryland yield approximately $0.33/lb while irrigated seeds yield about $0.38/lb.
These numbers could drastically change if Peleg proves to be successful although, right now, most sesame seed production comes from Africa and South East Asia as the plant thrives in hot, dry environments.
Trostle considers Peleg to be a “Modern Day Mendel,” the European priest who first observed floral traits in the 1800s. Mendel’s studies are the basis for what we know today as basic Mendelian genetics, involving DNA sequencing and genetic engineering to improve plant species .
Peleg believes his research is crucial because the demand for these seeds has dramatically increased in recent years as new discoveries in their health benefits have been made. Sesame seeds are rich in copper, magnesium, zinc and fiber which makes them good for skin, digestion, reducing blood pressure, lowering cholesterol, relieving arthritis and preventing wrinkles and cancer, among many other benefits.
Peleg’s method, if fruitful, would improve the quality of sesame seeds and the rate at which they’re produced. This would allow many more people to consume sesame seeds and at cheaper costs on a global scale.
The Agricultural Resource Marketing Center says sesame seeds recently surpassed one million tons per year with world trade. They estimate the industry is valued at roughly $850 million. Sesame seed world trade has increased nearly 80 percent in the last 15 years and Peleg believes his advancements in manufacturing will allow this number to increase significantly, though he can’t accurately give an estimate just yet.
Talia J. Medina is a student journalist at The Media Line. She studies at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communication.