Assessment of Genotype X Environment Interaction and Seed Yield Stability in Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Using AMMI Analysis

Abstract

Sesame is considered as an important oilseed crop in terms of nutritional and medicinal properties. Seed yield of any crop is highly labile to environmental factors, which may cause significant reduction in the yield performance. To get substantial stable yield production in crops like sesame, there is urgent need to identify stable genotypes that perform well under different environmental conditions. Thus, the present study has been planned with the aim to assess genotype x environment interaction (GEI) and stability analysis for seed yield per plant using additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model. The experiment involved evaluation of 20 sesame genotypes in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications under three artificially created environments by providing different levels of fertilizers.  The environment wise analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant genotypic variance across all the environments. Additionally, AMMI ANOVA revealed significant environment, genotypes and GEI components. GEI component was further classified to interaction principal components (IPC), IPC1 and IPC2, which explain 66.18% and 33.82% of variance due to GEI, respectively. Further, through different stability indices (ASV and GSI) and AMMI biplots, it was revealed that genotype RT-346 and RT-351 are considered as stable genotypes and these can be further recommended to farmer under varying fertility conditions.