Genotype-by-Environment Interaction and Yield Stability Analysis in Finger Millet (Elucine coracana L. Gaertn) in Ethiopia

Asfaw Adugna, Tesfaye Tesso, Erenso Degu, Taye Tadesse, Feyera Merga, Wasihun Legesse, Alemu Tirfessa, Haileselassie Kidane, Andualem Wole, Chemeda Daba

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DOI: 10.4236/ajps.2011.23046                

Abstract

Finger millet is one of the most neglected and underutilized crops worldwide, yet an important food cereal for millions of poor farmers in Africa. An experiment was carried out to determine adaptation range of diverse set of finger millet accessions and identify superior types with excellent yield potential for use as cultivar or as germplasm source for future breeding endeavors. A total of 44 indigenous accessions selected in previous evaluations and two check varieties were tested in two sets (mixed and colored) each containing 22 entries in a total of 11 environments between 2004 and 2008 seasons. Data were collected on grain yield, days to flowering, and plant height. The result showed that 2.5%, 79.1% and 18.3% of the total sum of squares in the mixed set and 2.1%, 86.9% and 11.0% in the colored set was attributed to genotype, environment, and genotype × environment interaction (GEI) effects, respectively. Furthermore, 54.6% and 46.19% of the GEI sum of squares in the mixed and in the colored set, respectively, were contributed by the first two interaction principal component axes (IPCA1 and IPCA2). A white seed accession (Acc. 203572) from the mixed set and three other accessions (Acc. 229469, Acc. 203410 and Acc. 203539) from the colored set were most stable and also had above average mean grain yield across environment and thus are recommended for release as cultivars to improve finger millet production in these environments.

Keywords

AMMI, Finger Millet, Genotype, Environment, Stability

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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