AbstractThree sesame genotypes with contrasting characters were grown in alternate rows to estimate the degree of natural cross‐pollination (NCP) at two locations. Capsules from the lower (first‐formed five capsules), upper (last five fully‐developed capsules) and middle portions were harvested separately and the frequency of appearance of progenies with dominant markers was used as the criterion for NCP. The degree of inter‐genotypic NCP was similar in the three genotypes and at the two locations (4.02—5.10 NCP) when the total number of hybrid seeds per plant was considered. The lower portion of the early (1.03—1.31 NCP) and medium (1.51—2.08) flowering genotypes and the upper portion of the late‐flowering genotype (2.27—2.49 NCP) recorded less NCP than the total plant. The NCP in the lower portion of the early‐flowering genotype due to pollen from the late‐flowering genotype was negligible (0—0.7 ). The results indicate the need for controlled self‐pollination for purity maintenance in sesame. However, contamination due to NCP can be reduced by sampling seeds from the lower capsules of early and medium‐flowering genotypes and from the upper capsules of late‐maturing genotypes when pollina
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