Grain yield stability of barley genotypes in uniform regional yield trails in warm and semi warm dry land area

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of GEI on grain yield of barley advanced lines and exploit the positive GEI effect using AMMI and SREG GGE biplot analysis. Therefore, 18 lines were evaluated at five research stations (Ghachsaran, Mogan, Lorestan, Gonbad and Ilam) of Dryland Agricultural Research Institute (DARI), in the semi-warm regions in Iran, in 2012, 2013 and 2014 cropping seasons under rain-fed conditions. Analysis of variance showed that grain yield variation due to the environments, genotypes and GE interaction were highly significant (p>0.01), which accounted for 68.9%, 9.3% and 22.7% of the treatment combination sum of squares, respectively. To determine the effects of GEI on yields, the data were subjected to AMMI and GGE biplot analysis. The first five AMMI model terms were highly significant (p>0.01) and the first two terms explained 59.56% of the GEI. There were two mega-environments according to the SREG GGE model. The best genotype in one location was not always the best in other test locations. According to AMMI1 biplot, G2, G4, G5 and G6 were better than all other genotypes across environments. G2 was the ideal genotype to plant in Gachsaran. It seems that Ghachsaran is the stable environment between the environments studied and next in rank was Gonbad. In finally, the ATC method indicated that G1, G3, G4 and G6 were more stable as well as high yielding.