Adaptability and Stability of Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Accessions under Diverse Environments and Herbicide Treatments

Abstract

The adaptability and stability of 37 faba bean (Vicia faba L.) accessions with different levels of tolerance to metribuzin or imazethapyr was assessed across 12 season–location–herbicide experiments. Significant Genotype x environment (GE) interaction was found for the days to flowering (DFLR), plant height (PLHT) and grain yield (GY). Performance and stability of the accessions regarding PLHT and GY were assessed using four different stability parameters: cultivar superiority, static stability, Wricke’s eco-valence and Finlay and Wilkinson’s regression model. The stability parameters ranked these genotypes differently suggesting that PLHT and GY stability should be assessed not only on a single or a few stability parameters but on a combination of them. GGE biplot analysis indicated that the environments representing metribuzin treatment at Marchouch 2014–2015 and the non-treated treatment at Terbol 2018–2019 are the ideal environments for evaluating faba bean genotypes. GGE biplots showed herbicide tolerant accession IG12983 with simultaneous average PLHT, GY and stability across the environments. The performance of other tolerant accessions, namely IG13945, IG13906, IG106453, FB2648, and FB1216 was less stable but superior under specific mega environments. Therefore, utilizing these accessions in faba bean breeding programs would help broaden the adaptability to diverse locations–season–herbicide treatments.

Assessing the Stability of Herbicide-Tolerant Lentil Accessions (Lens culinaris Medik.) under Diverse Environments

“…Lower heritability estimates for BY and SY indicated that these traits were highly influenced by environmental factors and controlled a large number of genes with a small effect when compared to phenological traits. These findings are consistent with previous research on fava beans [ 22 ], chickpeas [ 32 ], and lentils [ 33 ].…”

“…Previous research on lentils and other crops compared stability parameters to advise the breeders on the best method to use for selection. Our findings revealed inconsistencies in genotype ranking, as previously reported in fava beans [ 22 ], lentils [ 33 , 34 ], chickpeas [ 35 ], and sorghum [ 36 ]. Nevertheless, the analysis of Spearman’s coefficient revealed that there were some correlations between these stability parameters.…”

“…However, our study found that the cultivar superiority parameter was not related to any of the other parameters studied and was also negatively correlated with the Static Stability and Finlay–Wilkinson parameters. Abou-Khater et al [ 22 , 41 ] obtained similar observations. In our study, three accessions, IG257, IG75929, and IG114663, were identified as the most stable genotypes using the static stability, Wricke’s Ecovalence, Shukla, and Finlay–Wilkinson parameters, as well as being moderately to highly tolerant to imazethapyr and metribuzin.…”

“…The flowering and maturity times of lentil accessions were longer at Terbol than at Marchouch. This finding is explained by the fact that the climate at Terbol is cooler and has more precipitation than the climate at Marchouch, as reported in fava beans by Abou-Khater et al [ 22 ]. Furthermore, heat and drought stress have been shown to shorten crop cycle duration in lentils [ 28 ], chickpeas [ 29 ], and fava beans [ 30 ].…”

“…Since grain yield is the most affected trait in many crops (references), we focused on evaluating the yield of lentil accessions in our study. The stability of herbicide-tolerant accessions in fava beans has previously been reported [ 22 ].…”