Genotype by environment interaction and grain yield stability of sorghum (sorghum bicolor) hybrids evaluated at three locations in northern Ghana
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Date
August, 2015.
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Abstract
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench) is a staple food crop for millions of poor people in the semi-arid tropics and is adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions. In Ghana where there is large variation in environment it may be expected that genotype by environment interaction may also be higher. In such situation, one cultivar may have higher yield in some environments while the second cultivar may excel in the other. Variation in soil and weather condition across sorghum growing environments has led to significant genotype by environment effect on sorghum yields. Therefore, the evaluation of sorghum genotypes for stability of performance under varying environmental condition becomes an important aspect in sorghum hybrid evaluation. It was with this idea that this study was conducted to evaluate four sorghum hybrids, two commercial sorghum varieties and a local check obtained from the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute to identify stable and high yielding sorghum genotypes for commercial production during 2014 growing season in Ghana. The genotypes were evaluated at three locations in Northern Ghana at Nyankpala, Damongo and Manga. These were significant (P < 0.01) genotype (G), location (L) and genotype by location interaction (GLI) effect for grain yield. The contributions of the total variance accounted for by the genotypes were highest being (42%) for grain yield. The location effect and genotype by location (G × L) accounted for (23%) and (13%) respectively. The GGE biplot analysis showed that G1 (XSW2134) was high yielding and most stable, G2 (XSW256) was high yielding but least stable and G4 (Marcia) was low yielding and least stable. Damongo which is located in the Guinea savannah zone would be appropriate in selecting superior genotype.
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A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science And Technology, in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Masters of Philosophy In Agronomy (Plant Breeding), 2015