AMMI and GGE biplot analysis of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) genotypes for dry season performance of marketable tuber yield

Abstract

Abstract Background Potato is the 4th most important crop in the World and among the key food security crop in Ethiopia. But its productivity in Ethiopia is much lower than the crop potential due to genetic and environmental factors. Hence, multi-environment evaluation of potato genotypes is important to determine the magnitude of genotype, environment, and their interaction effect on marketable yield and to identify which genotypes would be appropriate in which production areas. Taking this objective into consideration, 13 potato genotypes were evaluated for two dry cropping seasons (2018 and 2019) in three locations in northwestern Ethiopia. Results The analysis of variance detected differences (P < 0.01) among genotypes (33.8%), environments (40.2%), and genotype-by-environment interaction (24.3%) for marketable tuber yield. Belete, Gera, and Guassa genotypes were the top 3 genotypes on the ideal testing environment (Dt2) axis. The mean and stability graph of the GGE biplots revealed Belete and Guassa as the most stable and high-yielding genotypes followed by Gera and Jalenie. Furthermore, based on ideal genotype ranking, Genotype Belete was in the first concentric circle and ranked first via yield stability index (YSI) with the highest marketable tuber yield performance (33.14 t/ha). Conclusions The findings indicated that genotype Belete appears to be an ideal genotype for the environment. Thus, using Belete genotype increases the marketable yield by 165% as compared to the local genotype. Therefore, promoting this genotype helps boost potato production and productivity in the study environment as well as similar agroecological areas.