Genotype x Environment Interaction and Yield Stability of Early Maturing Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] Genotypes in Dry Lowland Areas of Ethiopia

Abstract

The yield performance of crop varieties is highly affected by genotype x environment interaction, which is the major concern to plant breeders while developing improved varieties. In Ethiopia, high yielding, early maturing and stable varieties that wisthstand drought in the dry lowland areas are limited. In view of this, the yield performance of 60 early maturing advanced sorghum genotypes were tested at five locations with the objectives of estimating the magnitude of GxE for grain yield and other traits and to identify high yielder and stable genotypes across locations. The experiment was conducted using Randomized Complete Block Design with Row Column arrangement and three replications. Grain yield, phenological and other traits were recorded. The Residual Maximum Likelihood combined analysis of variance across locations showed very highly significant (P<0.0001) difference for grain yield among locations and significant (P<0.05) among genotypes and highly significant (P<0.0001) among interactions for most of the traits studied. Significant variation for locations and genotype indicates variation in the performance of genotypes for grain yield, phonological and other traits in different environments. On the other hand, significant GxE interaction showed inconsistency in the performance of sorghum genotypes across locations. Based on Eberhart and Russell’stability analysis, genotypes 05MW6026, 14MWLSDT7207, 14MWLSDT7332, 12MW6444, 12MW6302 and 14MWLSDT7042 were the most stable and high yielders. The AMMI stability value showed that genotypes 14MWLSDT7207, 05MW6026 and 14MWLSDT7234 were the high yielders and stable, while the GGE stability value showed that genotypes 14MWLSDT7207, 05MW6026, 14MWLSDT7209 and 12MW6440 were the best yielders and stable ones. Results of ASV parameter also showed six most widely stable and high yielder genotypes i.e., 13MWF6#6037, 05MW6026, 14MWLSDT7207, 14MWLSDT7234,14MWLSDT7042 and 12MW6440. Genotypes 05MW6026 and 14MWLSDT7207, were selected with four stability parameters as a high yielder and stable, and therefore, are the promising ones. Generally, this study showed the importance of testing early maturing sorghum genotypes for their yield and stability across diverse dry lowland areas of Ethiopia