Dissection of genotype-by-environment interaction and yield stability analysis in barley using AMMI model and stability statistics

Abstract

Abstract Background Barley is one of the most important cereal crops with considerable tolerance to various environmental stresses, which can maintain its productivity well in marginal croplands. The selection of stable and high-yielding barley genotypes and ideal discriminative locations is an important strategy for the development of new cultivars in tropical climates. Different statistical methods have been developed to dissect the genotype-by-environment interaction effect and investigate the stability of genotypes and select discriminative environments. The main objective of the present study was to identify high-yielding and stable barley genotypes and testing environments located in the tropical regions of Iran using 23 parametric and nonparametric stability statistics. In the present study, the grain yield stability in nineteen barley genotypes was investigated across five different locations over two consecutive years (2018–2020). Results The additive main effects multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis showed that environments (E), genotypes (G) and GE interaction effects were significant for grain yield. Using Spearman’s rank correlation analysis, a pattern map developed simultaneously for assessing relationships between grain yield and stability statistics and clustering of them, which allowed identifying two main groups based on their stability concepts. The biplot rendered using the weighted average of absolute scores (WAASB) and mean grain yield identified superior genotypes in terms of performance and stability. Among test environments, Darab, Gonbad and Zabol showed a high discriminating ability and played the highest contribution in creating GEI. Hence, these regions are suggested as discriminative sites in Iran for the selection of high-yielding and stable barley genotypes. Conclusion As a conclusion from this research, all stability statistics together identify G10 and G12 as the superior barley genotypes; these genotypes could be released as commercial cultivars in tropical regions of Iran.