Adaptability and Stability of Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Accessions under Diverse Environments and Herbicide Treatments.

Lynn Abou-Khater,Shiv Kumar,Diego Rubiales,Abdulqader Jighly,Fouad Maalouf

doi:10.3390/plants11030251

Abstract

The adaptability and stability of 37 faba bean (Vicia faba L.) accessions with different levels of tolerance to metribuzin or imazethapyr was assessed across 12 season–location–herbicide experiments. Significant Genotype x environment (GE) interaction was found for the days to flowering (DFLR), plant height (PLHT) and grain yield (GY). Performance and stability of the accessions regarding PLHT and GY were assessed using four different stability parameters: cultivar superiority, static stability, Wricke’s eco-valence and Finlay and Wilkinson’s regression model. The stability parameters ranked these genotypes differently suggesting that PLHT and GY stability should be assessed not only on a single or a few stability parameters but on a combination of them. GGE biplot analysis indicated that the environments representing metribuzin treatment at Marchouch 2014–2015 and the non-treated treatment at Terbol 2018–2019 are the ideal environments for evaluating faba bean genotypes. GGE biplots showed herbicide tolerant accession IG12983 with simultaneous average PLHT, GY and stability across the environments. The performance of other tolerant accessions, namely IG13945, IG13906, IG106453, FB2648, and FB1216 was less stable but superior under specific mega environments. Therefore, utilizing these accessions in faba bean breeding programs would help broaden the adaptability to diverse locations–season–herbicide treatments.

Highlights

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) was domesticated 10,000 years Before Christ (BC) in the Near East where archeological findings of domestic [1] and wild specimens were discovered [2]
Very high values of narrow sense heritability (0.97 and 0.99) for both days to flowering (DFLR) and days to maturity (DMAT) were estimated under different herbicide treatments and across different locations-seasons (Table 1)
Our results suggest that some genotypes had stable plant height and grain yield performance based on more than one parameter, but their rankings differed with each parameter

Summary

Introduction

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) was domesticated 10,000 years Before Christ (BC) in the Near East where archeological findings of domestic [1] and wild specimens were discovered [2]. Faba bean is considered the fourth most important cool season food legume after chickpea, lentils, and peas as it is grown on 2.57 million ha area with a total production of 5.4 million tons in 2019 [3]. This crop plays critical role in supporting nutritional and food security and enhancing soil structure in many countries, including China, Egypt, Ethiopia, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Sudan, and Morocco [3]. Demonstrating the adaptability of these accessions to a wide range of environments can increase their economic value as climate change is expected to reduce the production of faba bean in many regions. There is a need to study the yield stability of these accessions under different environmental conditions

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion