Parametric and Non-parametric Measures for Evaluating Yield Stability and Adaptability in Barley Doubled Haploid Lines

Multi-environment trials have a significant role in selecting the best cultivars to be used at different locations. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate GE interactions for grain yield in barley doubled haploid lines, to determine their stability and general adaptability and to compare different parametric and nonparametric stability and adaptability measures. For these purposes, 40 doubled haploid lines as well as two parental cultivars (Morex and Steptoe) were evaluated across eight variable environments (combinations of location-years-water regime) during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 growing seasons in Iran. The Additive Main effect and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) analysis revealed that environments, genotypes, and GE interaction as well as the first four Interaction Principal Component Axes (IPCA1 to 4) were significant, indicating differential responses of the lines to the environments and the need for stability and general adaptability analysis. The stability parameters Si(3), Si(6), NP2, NP3, NP4 as well as Fox-rank (Top) were positively and significantly correlated with mean yield, suggesting these statistics can be used interchangeably as suitable parameters for selecting stable lines. The results of Principal Components Analysis (PCA) showed that the first two PCAs explained 92% of total variation for ranks of mean grain yield and parameters, and also clustered stability parameters on the basis of static and dynamic concepts of stability. In general, the parametric and non-parametric stability measures revealed that among tested doubled haploid lines at different environments, the line DH-30 followed by DH-29 and DH-3 were identified as lines with high grain yields as well as the most stable for variable environments of semi-arid regions of Iran.