Sesame meal (Sesamum indicum)

Common name: Sesame/ gingelly

Local names: Hindi: Thil Marathi: Til Tamil: El

Sesame is mainly  grown  for  oil  production.  The seeds are produced in capsules or pods that split open readily at maturity, so most of the harvesting is done by hand.

Nutritive value

TDN and CP contents of sesame meal are 70-75% and 40-50%, respectively. The composition  of the sesame meal varies with the quality of the original seed and the method of processing. Good quality meal contains about 40-50% high grade protein especially rich in leucine, arginine and methionine but low in lysine. For ruminants the protein has degradability of 65-75% depending on the passage rate of the rumen. Sesame meal is mildly laxative. Feeding large quantities to dairy cattle may lead to production of soft butter.