Adaptability of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) genotypes over diverse environments evident by stability analysis of pod yield and seed oil content

Abstract

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important oilseed crop commercially cultivated in India. The adaptability and stability of some groundnut genotypes was assessed during 2011-2012 in different growing seasons (kharif, rabi and summer) with different sowing dates with combination of fertilizer levels at Oilseeds Research Unit at the Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, India. The pod yield and seed oil content were recorded. Pooled analysis of variance of pod yield and seed oil content over diverse environments revealed the presence of genotype x environment interaction and significant differences among the genotypes and environments (p<0.05). The partitioning of G × E interaction indicated that the linear component was significant (p<0.05) against pooled deviation for both traits. The non-linear component (pooled deviation) was also significant (p<0.050 when tested against the pooled error revealing presence of non-linear responses of the genotypes to the changing environments. The genotype AK 320 exhibited specific adaptability for favorable environments and the genotype AK 342 showed adaptability for unfavorable environments with respect to pod yield. However, both varieties were not stable across environments for the seed oil content though their seed oil content improved proportionate to the improving environment. The genotype AK 327 showed the highest general adaptability over diverse environments in respect of both pod yield and seed oil content. In general, the genotypes that showed high level of stability were not high yielders and the high yielders were found to be unstable in pod yield and seed oil content.