Abstract

Sorghum is an indigenous crop of Ethiopia grown in highly diverse environments of having water stress, soil fertility and temperature conditions. Developments of sorghum varieties resistant to drought and producing better grain yield while addressing the plant biomass requirement is one of the strategies in the sorghum breeding program to the dry lowland environment. A total of 22 early maturing sorghum genotypes were evaluated by including one standard check Melkam to estimate the grain yield and stability of performance across the test environments. The trial was conducted using RCBD in row and column arrangement 4. The analysis of variance using additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model revealed significant difference (p<0.01) for genotypes, locations and genotype by location interactions. The two principal components explained 60.4 % further variation due to genotype by location interaction. Based on the overall performance of grain yield, flowering time and plant height and the grain yield stability the variety 2005MI5064 was identified as a potential candidate for production to the target environment. The result also showed that the varieties IESV92084-DL and 2001MS7015 had better grain yield performance and stability across environment, which could be used as potential parental lines for genetic improvement in the sorghum improvement program.

Keywords: Variety; GEI; AMMI; Interaction principal component; Regression coefficient