Assessment of G × E Interactions and Stability Parameters for Quality Traits, Grain Yield and Its Components in Finger Millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.]

Abstract

The present study was conducted on G × E interactions and stability analysis in thirty-five finger millet genotypes under three environments i.e. Waghai, Vanarasi and Navsari locations in year kharif-2020-21. Observation were recorded for days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height (cm), productive tillers per plant, fingers per ear, finger width (cm), main ear head length (cm), finger length (cm), 1000 seed weight (g), grain yield per plant (g), fodder yield per plant (g), harvest index (%), leaf area (cm2), chlorophyll content (SPAD value), fiber content (%), calcium content (mg/100g), iron content (mg/100g) and zinc content (mg/100g).  The genotypes and environmental analysis of variance for stability revealed that, the differences among them were significant for all the characters when tested against pooled deviation and pooled error. The G x E interaction was significant for all the characters except fingers per ear and iron content. Mean squares due to environment (linear) were high and significant for all the characters except fiber content and iron content when tested against pooled deviation and/or pooled error. The stability parameters revealed that, the genotypes Dapoli-1, Dapoli-2, KOPN-235, VR-708, VR-847, GPU-67, KMR-340, KMR-204, KMR630, GN-5, GNN-6, GNN-7 and GN-8 were found to be average stable over environments for grain yield per plant with one or more yield contributing characters and quality parameters. So, these genotypes were used in future hybridization programme in finger millet.