Yield Stability Analysis of Some Promising Barley Genotypes under Different Environmental Conditions

Abstract

To mitigate the impact of climate change on barley production, adaptation strategies are crucial including developing and promoting drought-tolerant barley genotypes that can withstand higher temperatures. This study aimed to evaluate twenty different barley genotypes under different conditions, specifically normal, heat stress, and rain-fed conditions during 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 growing seasons. This study was conducted as part of breeding programs aimed at developing agricultural genotypes that can adapt to changing environments. The experiment involved evaluating the performance of the twenty barley genotypes at three different locations: Sakha for the normal condition, New Valley Station for the heat stress condition, and Marsa Matruh for the rain-fed condition. The analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences in grain yield among the different genotypes and locations, as well as the interaction between genotypes and locations. This indicates that the genotypes responded differently to the different locations, and further analysis is needed to determine their stability. The average grain yield ranged from 9.9 to 16.0 arddab fad-1 (Faddan=4200m2) for Giza 135 and Line 5, respectively, across all three locations in both seasons, this shows that there is variation among the genotypes. Considering GGE biplot and stability analyses, Giza 126, Giza 2000, Giza 134, Giza 137, Giza 138, Line1, Line 2, Line 3, Line 4 and Line 5 showed the best performances, suggesting their adaptation to a wide range of environments. This suggests that these genotypes perform well in relation to the linear component of the genotype-by-environment interaction. Overall, this information can be used by plant breeders to select genotypes that are not only high-yielding but also stable across different environments.