Additive Main Effect and Multiplicative Interaction Analysis for Grain Yield of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in Iran

Abstract

Selection of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars with wide adaptability across diverse farming environments is important before recommending them to achieve a high rate of cultivar adoption. Multienvironment trials including 3 years and 5 locations for 17 genotypes of autumn chickpea were carried out in Iran. Additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) were used to understand the GE interaction pattern. Analysis of variance of grain yield showed that 68.36% of the total sum of squares was attributable to environmental effects, only 15.9% to genotypic effects and 13.55% to GE interaction effects. Biplot of the first principal component and mean grain yields for genotypes and environments revealed that high yielding genotypes were not stable cultivars regarding final yield. The AMMI2 mega-environment analysis identified four chickpea megaenvironments in Iran. The first megaenvironment contained locations, Ghachsaran and Lorestan, where genotype Arman was the winner; the second megaenvironment contained locations Gorgan, where genotype FLIP 98-126C was superior. The tertiary megaenvironment contained locations in Ilam, where genotype FLIP 98-82C was superior and the location of Kermanshah made up the other megaenvironment, with FLIP 98-201C as superior.