Phenotypic stability of yield in kabuli chickpea

Abstract

A set of 15 promising lines of Kabuli chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) emanating from different breeding programmes of the country was evaluated at 12 locations in Initial Varietal Trials (IVT) under All India Coordinated Research Project on Chickpea in 1999-2000. These locations spread across the country representing different zones e.g., North-West Plain Zone (NWPZ) and Central Zone (CZ). The replicated yield data were analyzed following different stability models. The pooled analysis showed significant differences among genotypes and environments for seed yield. The presence of significant genotype x environment (G x E) interaction indicated that the relative rankings of genotypes were different in different locations. Further partitioning of the G x E interaction into linear and non-linear components showed that both the components contributed significantly towards G x E interaction. A simultaneous evaluation of the stability parameters (b, S'd,) and mean for seed yield showed that two genotypes GNG 1350 and IPCK 991 were also among the six top yielding genotypes and were stable ( b=1 and S'd=0). BG 1088 and GNG 1340 gave higher yield and showed average sensitivity to variation in the environments (b,=1) but their deviation from the regression was high, indicating that such genotypes were unpredictable in their performance. Similarly, BG 1003 was responsive to better growing conditions (b, >1) but its performance was not stable.