Investigating the genotype-environment interactions and identification of superior lines of pearl millet

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) belongs to Poaceae family and is also the sixth most important cereal in the world after wheat, rice, maize, barley, and sorghum. In order to stablity analysis of pearl millet, five new pearl millet cultivars were cultivated in six locations (Karaj, Birjand, Varamin, Yazd, Gonbad and Sari) across two years in a randomized complete block design with three replications. the results of combined analysis for number of tillers, number of leaves, days to flowering, height, fresh and dry forage yields and seed yield showed that the cultivars and the environments main effect  and their intractions were significant. The total mean  offresh forage yield was 40.19 t/ha and the average of all cultivars except KPM1 and KPM4 was lower than total mean. Results of the stability analysis by GGE biplot partitioned the testing environments into two mega-environments with KPM4 and KPM5 as winning genotypes. According to discriminate ability and representativeness, the E2 and E4 environments were perfect. Overall, the results showed the superior performance and good stability of KPM4 genotype in all experimental environments.