Study of Durum Wheat Yield Stability in Warm Zone of Iran Under Normal and Drought Stress

Due to inadequate agricultural water in warm area of Iran, Identification and introduction of stable and adaptable genotypes with high grain yield in non-stress and drought stress conditions is the most important issue in durum wheat breeding program. In order to study adaptability and grain yield stability of durum wheat genotypes in non-stress and terminal drought stress conditions, 19 durum line/cultivars along with Mehregan, as a check commercial bread wheat cultivar, were used. Genotypes assessed in four locations, i.e. Ahvaz and Darab for drought stress conditions and Dezful and Khorramabad for normal conditions in two cultivation years, 2017-18 and 2018-19. The experiments were conducted in a RCBD design with three replications. For grain yield, combined analyses of variance and stability analysis using parametric and non-parametric methods such as AMMI, Ranking and STDEV of Ranking were undertaken. Based on the results, Genotypes with specific adaptation were included: D-96-4 and D-96-6 for Khorramabad; D-96-5, D-96-9 and D-96-18 for Ahvaz; D-96-3(Mehregan) and D-96-16 for Darab and Dezful. Genotypes D-96-11, D-96-17, D-96-18 and D-96-20 were selected as stable and wide adaptable based on mean yield and ASV parameter in AMMI1 model and genotypes D-96-13 and D-96-18 were selected based on ranking and STDEV of ranking. Finally, based on the results of two methods, Genotype D-96-18 with high grain yield and the low G×E interaction was selected as a superior durum wheat line in both non-stress and drought stress conditions.