Use of fertilization in the determination of spring wheat genotype stability

Abstract

Abstract The effect of fertilizer application rates on genotype stability was determined for three wheat classes grown at four locations in southern Saskatchewan (Canada) over a five year period. Each year 16 to 28 cultivars and breeding lines of Durum (Triticum turgidum var durum) and. Hard Red Spring (HRSW) and Utility wheats (Triticum aestivum L.) were grown on summerfallowed land with fertilizer treatments of 0–0, 10–9, and 50–22 kg ha‐1 of N and P, respectively; at two locations fertilizer treatments of 10–0,50–0, and 50–9 kg ha‐1 of N and P, respectively, were also included. All main factors (years, locations, wheat classes, and fertilizer rates) significantly affected yield and N concentration of the grain, but there was no significant fertilizer by wheat class interaction. Regression techniques used to determine genotype stability for yield of the different wheat classes were not sensitive enough to separate the three classes studied when only one fertilizer rate was considered; however, when fert...