Stability of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Landraces in National Plant Gene Bank of Iran for Drylands

Identification of high performance stable genotypes is an important objective for chickpea production in drylands of Iran. Hence, the stability of 12 chickpea local landraces and three check cultivars were evaluated during three consecutive cropping seasons (2010-2013). The experiments were laid out as a randomized complete block design with four replications in four locations. Combined analysis of variance was performed to verify the existence of differences among genotypes. AMMI analysis was performed to analyze the residual multiplicative interaction. The stability was estimated through ranking of genotypes based on different quantitative stability parameters including IPCA score, AMMI Stability Value (ASV), Sustainability Index (SUI), and Genotype Selection Index (GSI). Main effects of year, location, and genotype as well as their two- and three-way interaction effects were significant (P≤ 0.01) for grain yield. Significant effect of genotype, location, and year interaction implied presence of genetic variability which provides an opportunity to identify new superior genotypes for each location. AMMI analysis showed that the three main components accounted for 62% of the total genotype by environment interaction. Based on the results, the landraces G1, G2, G3, G8, and G12 had the highest average performance and stability compared to check cultivars and could be used in breeding programs for the development of new chickpea varieties.