Stability and adaptability of wheat cultivars with low cadmium accumulation based on farmland trials

Abstract

Planting wheat cultivars with low cadmium (Cd) accumulation could help overcome grain Cd contamination. However, the variation in low-Cd accumulation characteristics as influenced by genotype and the environment is unclear. To explore the stability and adaptability of wheat cultivars with low-Cd accumulation in different environments, we analyzed characteristics based on bioconcentration factor (BCF) and yield data obtained from thirteen low-Cd cultivars grown in ten locations. An additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model with homogeneous grouping based on location type successfully captured the effects of genotype, the environment, and their interaction on low-Cd accumulation stability, with environmental effects (49.62–68.45%) having the greatest influence on the stability of low-Cd accumulation cultivar characteristics. A genotype plus genotype-by-environment interaction (GGE) biplot accurately and intuitively illustrated the adaptability of low-Cd-accumulating wheat cultivars, indicating that the best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) had a more plausible variation explaining the variance than the means. Here, we identify the cultivars LX99, YN999, JM229, and JM22 as having the best stability and adaptability for low-Cd accumulation by using a heterogeneous linear mixed model with BLUP calculation, combined with cluster and weight analysis. Planting these wheat cultivars with low-Cd accumulation can enable the safe utilization of lightly Cd-contaminated farmland with no reduction in yield. This study extends the application of stability evaluation methods in environmental studies and provides a reference for exploring the stability of other cultivars with low heavy metal accumulation.