Stability of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) genotypes under diverse environments

Abstract

The present investigation was undertaken to ascertain stable genotypes across six environments. Twenty five genotypes of French bean were evaluated for yield and quality traits in three different locations of Punjab during 2017–18. The stability of genotypes was worked out by using Eberhart and Russel (1966) and GGE biplot models. Highly significant mean squares for environments and genotype × environment interaction were recorded for all the traits except for protein content. The linear component of genotype × environment interaction was significant for all the characters under study. The highest green pod yield per plant was observed in genotype Arka Suvidha followed by Arka Anoop, Falguni, Arka Sharath and FB-3-16 which produced significantly more green pod yield than check Contender. Genotype FB VAR-5 was identified suitable for favorable environments and genotypes Arka Sharath, Arka Suvidha, Falguni, FB 2-16 and Swarna Priya were found promising for unfavorable environments. The genotype Arka Anoop was stable in all environments. In terms of environments KVK, Sangrur 2017 was more informative. The dry matter of genotype Contender was high while genotypes Arka Suvidha, Arka Anoop and Falguni produced highest protein content. All the environments were positively correlated for yield traits, which meant that same information about the genotypes could be obtained from fewer test environments, and hence depicting the potential to reduce testing cost by dropping one of them.