Genotype-Environment Interaction and Yield Stability of Winter Barley Varieties (Hordeum vulgare L.)

In order to determine the stability and reaction of barley genotypes in different climatic conditions, grain yield of ten barley cultivars were evaluated in five locations. Studied areas were Karaj, Birjand, Kashmar, Sanandaj and Shiraz. The experiment conducted in a randomized complete block designs with three replications in 2013-2014. Genotype by environment interaction effect was significant for grain yield. To investigate the stability of the cultivars, stability parameters including environmental variance, Shukla stability variance, Wricke ecovalence, Lin and Bains coefficient variation and the variation coefficient stability parameter were assessed. According to these methods, Nosrat, Makuei and Gorgan cultivars with optimum performance were more stable than other genotypes. GGE - biplot graph in grain yield explained 91.54 percent of variations. According to GGE – biplot method Strain, Gorgan, Kavir and Nosrat had the high mean values of grain yield and stability. In contrast, Rayhan and Zarjou had the low mean values of grain yield and stability. For grain yield, studied locations divided to two mega-environments. The first mega-environment was Karaj and Birjand and the second mega-environment was Shiraz, Sanandaj and Kashmar. The second mega-environment regarded as the best mega-environment because of more number of varieties in with high grain yield. Karaj, Sanandaj and Shiraz had the most discrimination power in genotype recognition.