Agro-morphological Traits Research Articles

Multivariate analysis of agro-morphological and quality traits of a durum wheat collection under rainfed Algerian conditions

Multivariate analysis of agro-morphological and quality traits of a durum wheat collection under rainfed Algerian conditions

Agro-morphological characterization of Pakistani maize accessions using qualitative and quantitative traits.

Agro-morphological characterizations offer robust and vigorous means for the precise characterization of germplasm to be used in breeding programs. Here, agro-morphological features-based analyses were considered to figure out the genetic variability within 99 maize accessions and five (5) check varieties including Azam, W. Islamabad, Haq Nawaz, Ev-5 and Evr197. A total of 28 important agro-morphological traits were accounted in the field trails at Hazara University Mansehra Pakistan, during spring 2015. The maximum variation was detected in grain weight per cob (53.43), followed by number of kernels per row (38.64) and flag leaf area (cm2), (38.09%). Cluster analysis divided the 99 maize accession with five check varieties of maize accessions into 7 clusters following the hierarchical clustering. Cluster II recorded 29 genotypes with maximum grain yield per cob, and highest flag leaf length, followed by cluster IV. Lowest grain yield per cob was noted for accessions of cluster I. Similarly, cluster VII consisted of accession with the longest cob length. Moreover, the investigations also revealed that the primary constituent among first five principal components with an eigen value about more than 0.98 in relation to 68.75% of the total variants. PCI accounted for 25.53%, PCII contributed 18.31%, and PCIII is 9.88% of the overall morphological variability were significant contributors were grain weight per cob, number of kernel per row, 1000 grain weight. The identification of a significant level of genetic diversity during the present investigation having implications for maize germplasm characterisation, conservation, and breeding programs aiming at developing improvement maize cultivars.

Evaluation of Cotton Genotypes for Agro-Morphological Traits and Resistance to Insect Pests in Faisalabad, Pakistan

Evaluation of Cotton Genotypes for Agro-Morphological Traits and Resistance to Insect Pests in Faisalabad, Pakistan

Molecular and agro-morphological diversity assessment of some bread wheat genotypes and their crosses for drought tolerance.

Wheat, a staple cereal crop, faces challenges due to climate change and increasing global population. Maintaining genetic diversity is vital for developing drought-tolerant cultivars. This study evaluated the genetic diversity and drought response of five wheat cultivars and their corresponding F1 hybrids under well-watered and drought stress conditions. Molecular profiling using ISSR and SCoT-PCR markers revealed 28 polymorphic loci out of 76 amplified. A statistically significant impact of parental genotypes and their crosses was observed on all investigated agro-morphological traits, including root length, root weight, shoot length, shoot weight, proline content, spikelet number/spike, spike length, grain number/spike, and grain weight/spike. The parental genotypes P1 and P3 had desirable positive and significant general combining ability (GCA) effects for shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root fresh weight, root dry weight, shoot length, and root length under well-watered conditions, while P3 and P5 recorded the highest GCA estimates under drought stress. P3 and P4 showed the highest GCA effects for number of spikelets per spike, the number of grains per spike, and grain weight per spike under normal conditions. P5 presented the maximum GCA effects and proved to be the best combiner under drought stress conditions. The cross P1× P3 showed the highest positive specific combining ability (SCA) effects for shoot fresh weight under normal conditions, while P2×P3 excelled under water deficit conditions. P1× P2, P1 × P3, and P4× P5 were most effective for shoot dry weight under normal conditions, whereas P1×P3 and P3×P5 showed significant SCA effects under drought stress. Positive SCA effects for root fresh weight and shoot length were observed for P3×P5 under stressed conditions. Additionally, P4×P5 consistently recorded the highest SCA for root length in both environments, and P3×P5 excelled in the number of spikelets, grains per spike, and grain weight per spike under drought conditions. The evaluated genotypes were categorized based on their agronomic performance under drought stress into distinct groups ranging from drought-tolerant genotypes (group A) to drought-sensitive ones (group C). The genotypes P5, P2×P5, and P3×P5 were identified as promising genotypes to improve agronomic performance under water deficit conditions. The results demonstrated genetic variations for drought tolerance and highlighted the potential of ISSR and SCoT markers in wheat breeding programs for developing drought-tolerant cultivars.

Genetic variation among diverse safflower genotypes for some agro-morphological traits

This study sought to investigate the genetic diversity among 100 safflower genotypes concerning seed yield performance and seventeen morphological traits and yield components. Employing an alpha 10 × 10 lattice design, the two trials were performed in 2022 and 2023, with two replicates. Principal component analyses (PCA) explained 65% and 61% of the variability in the first and second years respectively. In the first year, the yield of a single plant was positively correlated with plant height, lateral capitulum total weight and seed number and weight, and main capitulum seed number and weight. In the second year, the results obtained generally corroborated the first year. In both years, the PC1 and PC2 axes divided genotypes into four main groups which contained 14, 11, 15, and 10 entries respectively. Comparison of the traits of the four clusters demonstrated that Cluster-II and Cluster-IV exhibited the highest single plant yields., These clusters can therefore be considered as potential heterotic groups in crossbreeding programs aimed at producing genotypes with superior performance. About 21 genotypes of 100 studied were identified as good candidates for use in safflower breeding programs.

Characterization of New Rice Genotypes for Blast and Brown Spot Disease Resistance and Iron-Toxicity Tolerance in Burkina Faso

Rice production in Burkina Faso is threatened by a number of abiotic and biotic constraints, including iron toxicity and main fungal diseases that limit the potential of cultivated varieties. The general objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of new rice genotypes against main biotic and abiotic stresses. A total of 08 genotypes were tested allowed a Fisher block design with 03 replicates. Assessments focused on severity of iron toxicity, the severity and incidence of blast and brown spot disease and agro-morphological traits. The GRS IR-6-S3-Y1-D genotype was the most sensitive to iron toxicity, while the Sahel 108, BF19AR006 and SV1CP genotypes were the most resistant. As for fungal diseases, severity scores ranged from 4.33 to 7.67 for blast and from 4.00 to 7.03 for brown spot disease while incidence rates were 88.33% and 81.67% for blast and brown spot disease respectively. Genotype IR93654-10-3-2-1-ARS-SALS was resistant to both blast and brown spot disease. Person's correlation matrix showed both positive and negative correlations between the various agro-morphological parameters and pathological traits. Hierarchical ascending classification showed that the SV1CP and IR93654-10-3-2-1-ARS-SALS genotypes performed better agronomically. with yields of over 7.000 kg/ha and showed good tolerance to iron toxicity, blast and brown spot disease.

Genetic Evaluation of Recombinant Inbred Lines of Rice Derived from Swarna-Sub1 x AC 20431B for Yield Related Traits

Submergence is the third most important abiotic stress hugely affecting yield and productivity in rice. There are many wild varieties and landraces available which are tolerant to submergence stress. These genotypes can be utilized as donors in different breeding programs. The population derived from such germplasms are subjected to genetic evaluation for yield and yield related attributes for development of lines that are high yielding as well as tolerant to submergence. The present investigation was executed in 120 Recombinant Inbred Lines (RIL) population (F10) derived from Swarna-Sub1 x AC 20431B along with four land races and Swarna-Sub1 to elucidate the association existing between yield and yield attributing characters. Apart from this, Correlation and path analysis was also employed to study direct and indirect effect on grain yield. Observations for agro-morphological traits such as days to 50% flowering, plant height, panicle length, total number of tillers, number of effective tillers per plant, number of filled grains and Spikelet fertility, test weight, grain yield per plant, biomass per plant and harvest index were recorded and analyzed for various variability parameters. Correlation and path coefficient analysis were also carried out. High heritability and genetic advance values were observed for days to 50% flowering, plant height, panicle length, total number of tillers per plant, effective tillers per plant, filled grains per panicle, spikelet fertility, test weight, grain yield and biomass per plant. Among all the characters; filled grains per panicle, biomass and harvest index per plant showed significant correlation with grain yield. Effective number of tillers per plant has the highest positive direct effect on grain yield.

Diversity analyses of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) through agro-morphological traits

AbstractThe limited genetic resource of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most critical issue impeding its improvement and production. Collection and characterization of chickpea for agronomic traits is prerequisite to build a successful breeding programme through expanding chickpea's genepool to fulfil the needs of farmers and breeders, such as grain size and yield which supply food to a world rising population. To reach such an objective, numerous collection missions were carried out in Algeria, covering the northern agro-ecological environments, this allows us to gather 56 national and international genotypes that report a phenotypic variability and may provide a valuable diversity of useful features. Characterization experiments of 19 agro-morphological traits were set up at the Technical Institute of Field Crops over two successive seasons 2020 and 2021. All traits were statistically significant and the cluster analysis classified the genotypes into three major group, where local and improved accessions revealed an interesting outcome in terms of seed yield and resistance to Ascochyta blight. In general, the current study's findings clearly demonstrated that plant and seed morphological characteristics could be used to distinguish and identify chickpea genotypes. More often, it might participate as a source of variation in breeding programmes to meet the desirable improvement targets.

Some Agronomic Properties of Winter Wheat Genotypes Grown at Different Locations in Croatia

A collection of fourteen winter wheat accessions was evaluated to describe agro-morphological traits over a two-year study at four locations. Changes in grain yield, test weight, and plant height were related to differences in growing seasons, locations, genotypes, and their interactions. Thus, some genotypes are suitable for one location but not for another. However, a PCA showed that genotypes 2, 26, 28, 32, and 31 were the most stable across environments. In the 2022/2023 season, a negative relationship was observed between septoria leaf blotch, septoria nodorum blotch, yellow rust, fusarium head blight, and grain yield. Grain yield decreased by 84.8, 72.3, 37.4, and 4.3% in Kutjevo, Osijek, Tovarnik, and Zagreb, respectively, compared to the 2021/2022 season. Additionally, in the 2022/2023 season, barley yellow dwarf virus weakened wheat plants, especially at the locations Kutjevo, Tovarnik, and Osijek, where a relationship was observed with septoria leaf blotch and powdery mildew. At the Zagreb location, wheat genotypes were planted at the latest sowing date, probably escaping the virus pressure after plants easily tolerated diseases, resulting in a significantly higher mean grain yield.

The Effects of Different Sowing Dates on Winter Wheat

Three separate field experiments, with different sowing dates, were conducted to determine a suitable sowing date for the highest agromorphological traits and tech- nological quality parameters. The results in growing season 2022–23 demonstrated the following: with a sowing date delay (i.e., with the second sowing date occurring on November 4, 2022), the grain yield was significantly advanced when compared to the first sowing date (occurring on October 13, 2022), while the grain yield was significantly increased in eight genotypes (out of a total of twelve of them) on the third sowing date (i.e., on November 14, 2022) when compared to the first. The rea- son for disproportions of grain yield on the first two sowing dates was the attack of barley yellow dwarf virus in autumn that seriously damaged more developed plants pertaining to the first sowing date, whereafter they were also more prone to other wheat diseases. The relative differences concerning the second sowing date with regard to the first one were as follow: an increase by 59.1% concerning the grain yield, by 6.3% concerning the test weight, and by 22.5% concerning a 1000 kernel weight, a decrease by 23.3% concerning the heading date, by 1.2% concerning the protein content, by 2.1% concerning the wet gluten content, and by 2.5% concerning the sedimentation value. The difference in grain yield between the second and the third sowing date amounted to 34.2% due to a premature senescence of plants in later sowing, as a result of increased June temperatures.

Unravelling the genetic variability in Brassica juncea germplasm formorphological and biochemical traits to identify suitable donor

In the present study, multivariate analysis was carried out among 87 germplasm accessions using 12 agro morphological traits and 9 biochemical parameters. Highest variation was observed for seed yield per plant (CV52.35 %), glucosinolate content (CV-51.59 %) and oleic acid (CV- 42.88 %). Principal component analysis led to the identification of six principal components which explained 80 % of total variation. The first (PC1) and second principal component (PC2) explained 26.02 and 18.26 %, respectively of total variation. Total germplasm accessions are grouped in to the six clusters and cluster III and IV shows maximum inter cluster distance.

Agro-morphological Characterization and Digitization of Job’s Tears (Coix lacryma-jobi L.) Germplasm: A Minor Cereal Crop of Northeastern India

Thirty-seven Job’s tears accessions of India’s northeastern hill region (NEH) were characterized for nine quantitative and eight qualitative traits. Prominent furrow and elliptic shape of grain in soft-shelled types are supposed to be the most important trait that indicates the domestication trend of the crop in NEH region. Principal component analysis showed that agro-morphological traits, namely time for first heading, days to 80% maturity, seed yield/plant (g), number of culms, and length of culm (cm) have significantly contributed to the diversity. Correlation analysis has shown significant correlations between different yield-contributing traits. Diversity and potential traits in each cluster were also identified through cluster analysis. Grid mapping was done to identify the areas for collection of trait-specific germplasm like higher number of culms, length of culm and hundred seed weight. The germplasm accessions IC0332644, IC0416831 and IC0540173 were identified as promising genotypes

Genetic architecture of adult-plant resistance to stripe rust in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) association panel.

Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, is a severe disease in wheat worldwide, including Ethiopia, causing up to 100% wheat yield loss in the worst season. The use of resistant cultivars is considered to be the most effective and durable management technique for controlling the disease. Therefore, the present study targeted the genetic architecture of adult plant resistance to yellow rust in 178 wheat association panels. The panel was phenotyped for yellow rust adult-plant resistance at three locations. Phonological, yield, yield-related, and agro-morphological traits were recorded. The association panel was fingerprinted using the genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) platform, and a total of 6,788 polymorphic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were used for genome-wide association analysis to identify effective yellow rust resistance genes. The marker-trait association analysis was conducted using the Genome Association and Prediction Integrated Tool (GAPIT). The broad-sense heritability for the considered traits ranged from 74.52% to 88.64%, implying the presence of promising yellow rust resistance alleles in the association panel that could be deployed to improve wheat resistance to the disease. The overall linkage disequilibrium (LD) declined within an average physical distance of 31.44 Mbp at r2=0.2. Marker-trait association (MTA) analysis identified 148 loci significantly (p = 0.001) associated with yellow rust adult-plant resistance. Most of the detected resistance quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were located on the same chromosomes as previously reported QTLs for yellow rust resistance and mapped on chromosomes 1A, 1B, 1D, 2A, 2B, 2D, 3A, 3B, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4D, 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B, 7A, and 7D. However, 12 of the discovered MTAs were not previously documented in the wheat literature, suggesting that they could represent novel loci for stripe rust resistance. Zooming into the QTL regions in IWGSC RefSeq Annotation v1 identified crucial disease resistance-associated genes that are key in plants' defense mechanisms against pathogen infections. The detected QTLs will be helpful for marker-assisted breeding of wheat to increase resistance to stripe rust. Generally, the present study identified putative QTLs for field resistance to yellow rust and some important agronomic traits. Most of the discovered QTLs have been reported previously, indicating the potential to improve wheat resistance to yellow rust by deploying the QTLs discovered by marker-assisted selection.

Characterization and Evaluation of Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Germplasm Collected from Kashmir, India

Faba bean (Vicia faba) is an ancient legume crop with high protein content of around 27%. In this study 39 local faba bean genotypes differing in seed shape, size and color were collected from different areas of Kashmir valley and evaluated during three successive rabi growing seasons of 2019–20, 2020–21 and 2021–22. Data were recorded on ten agro-morphological traits viz., plant height, number of branches/plant, days to 50% flowering, days to 80% maturity, pod length, pod width, number of seeds/pod, pod yield/plant, seed yield/plant and 100-seed weight. Average plant height ranged from 55.8 to 91.3 cm, pod length 5.2 to 9.7 cm, pod width 1.1 to 1.8 cm, seed yield/plant 18.748 to 42.050 g and 100-seed weight 41.118 to 89.966 g. Pod yield/plant evaluated during one year of 2021–22 only ranged from 43.633 to 199.930 g with a mean value of 99.981 g. The results have indicated significant variability in most of these traits. Flattened, medium-sized, beige seeds were more common traits in these faba bean genotypes. Lower mean plant height, number of branches/plant, pod length and seed yield/plant were recorded in 2021–22 than the other two experimental years due to lower rainfall and higher mean temperatures during the active vegetative, flowering and pod filling stages. Principal component and cluster analysis revealed three distinct clusters mainly on the basis of greater agro-morphological similarity. Interestingly, 8 genotypes with the highest individual 100-seed weight were clustered in a separate group with an average 100-seed weight of 83.997 g. Besides, this cluster recorded highest average plant height, pod length, pod width and seed yield/plant as well; all these traits showed significant positive correlations with each other. Therefore, these traits should be considered when selecting faba bean genotypes to improve the region’s crop performance.

Agromorphological and Chemical Characterization of Pear Cultivars Grown in Central–West Iberian Peninsula

Seventeen traditional pear cultivars grown in the Central–Western Iberian Peninsula, all of them clearly in decline or close to extinction, have been characterized from the point of view of agromorphological and chemical. A total of twenty-one agromorphological and chemical traits, mainly defined by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, were used to describe the fruits during a 3-year period from 2020 to 2022. Some of the genotypes showed distinctive and interesting agronomical characteristics from a commercial point of view, such as high yields and fruit quality. This was the case of the pear cultivars called “Pera Temprana”, “Muslo de Dama”, and “Pera de Cristal de Peñacaballera”. Their fruits were quite heavy (125.32–142.56 g) and had a good sweetness/acidity balance (12.67–14.92° Brix/2.76–3.42 g malic acid/L). The rest of the pear cultivars, with the exception of the “Cermeños” group and “Pera Canela” genotype, also presented interesting commercial characteristics given that their fruits had equatorial diameters greater than 6 cm and total soluble solids levels close to or above 13° Brix. The results of the PCA and cluster analysis showed that agromorphological and chemical analysis can provide reliable information on the variability in pear cultivars. The loss of these traditional crops has enormous significance given that they have unique characteristics and are perfectly adapted to the edapho-climatic conditions of the region. This work constitutes an important step in the conservation of genetic pear resources in the Central–Western Iberian Peninsula.

Leaf Mustard (Brassica juncea) Germplasm Resources Showed Diverse Characteristics in Agro-Morphological Traits and Glucosinolate Levels.

Leaf mustard, characterized by its purple/red/green leaves with a green/white midrib, is known for its thick, tender, and spicy leaves with a unique taste and flavor. There were only a few studies reported on leaf mustard for its morphological and biochemical traits from Korea. A total of 355 leaf mustard accessions stored at the GenBank of the National Agrobiodiversity Center were evaluated for 25 agro-morphological traits and seven intact glucosinolates (GSLs). The accessions showed a wide variation in terms of most of the traits. The quantitative agro-morphological traits varied from 16.0 (leaf length) to 48.7% (petiole width) of the coefficient of variation (CV). The highest variation was observed in glucoiberin (299.5%, CV), while the total GSL showed a CV of 66.1%. Sinigrin, followed by gluconapin and gluconasturtiin, was the most abundant GSL, accounting for as high as 75% of the total GSLs, while glucobrassicanapin and glucoiberin were the least abundant, contributing 0.7% and 0.1% on average, respectively. Sinigrin had a positive significant correlation with all GSLs but gluconasturtiin, while glucobarbarin and gluconasturtiin were highly positively correlated to each other, but least correlated with other GSLs. The leaf length was negatively correlated with sinigrin and glucoiberin. The width of the petiole showed a positive correlation with gluconapin, glucobrassicanapin, and glucobrassicin, while the length of the petiole had a negative correlation with sinigrin, glucobrassicanapin, glucoiberin, glucobrassicin, and the total GSLs. A higher width of the midrib was associated with higher contents of gluconapin, glucobrassicanapin, and glucobrassicin. A PCA analysis based on the agro-morphological traits showed that the first and second principal components accounted for 65.2% of the overall variability. Accessions that form a head tend to exhibit a longer leaf length, a larger plant weight, a thicker midrib, and higher widths of the midrib, petiole, and leaf. The GSLs showed inconsistent inter-and intra-leaf variation. Accessions that identified for various traits in their performance, such as, for example, Yeosu66 and IT259487 (highest total glucosinolates) and IT228984 (highest plant weight), would be promising lines for developing new varieties.

Evaluation of indigenous and exotic soybean accessions for yield, resistance to frog-eye leaf spot and yellow mosaic virus diseases

AbstractSoybean is a major source of vegetable oil and protein worldwide. Globally, India is among the top five producers where soybean is a major oilseed grown under diverse agro-climatic conditions by small and marginal farmers. The present study aims to identify soybean varieties with higher yield levels, resistance to pestdiseases and adaptability to climatic fluctuations. One hundred and twenty-five (125) indigenous and exotic soybean germplasm accessions and five checks were evaluated and characterized for eight agro-morphological traits at five testing locations and also screened for frog-eye leaf spot (FLS) and yellow mosaic virus (YMV) diseases under hot-spot locations during the rainy season. A wide range of variability was observed among accessions for days to 50% flowering (39–59), plant height (41–111 cm), number of nodes/plant (10–30), pod clusters/plant (14–39), number of pods/plant (40–102), days to maturity (96–115), grain yield/plant (4.89–16.54 g) and 100-seed weight (6.02–13.72 g). Among various traits, 100-seed weight (0.45), number of pods/plant (0.60) and number of pod clusters/plant (0.38) were found to be major yield-contributing traits as they exhibited highly significant correlation with grain yield/plant. Principal components PCI and PCII with eigen value >1 accounted for 42.66 and 27.08% of the total variation, respectively. Accessions G24 (EC 393222) from Taiwan and G40 (IMP-1) from the USA belonging to cluster IV were found promising for multiple yield traits and JS 20–38 from cluster III for earliness as per cluster analysis. GGE biplot average environment coordination (AEC) view revealed that the accessions viz., G11 (EC 333872), G2 (EC 251506) and G47 (TNAU-S-55) were the best performing stable genotypes in terms of grain yield/plant across locations. Twelve accessions had a high level of resistance against both FLS and YMV diseases under natural hot-spot conditions which can be utilized as promising donors in the soybean breeding programme.

Agro-Morphological Traits and Molecular Diversity of Proso Millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) Affected by Various Colchicine Treatments

Colchicine is a substance used to induce mutations in order to regulate important agronomic traits. The genotypes Pavlodarskoe 4, Quartet, and PI 289324, originating from Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and Hungary, respectively, were used as materials. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of different colchicine concentrations (0.0, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.1%) and treatment times (6, 12, and 24 h) on the agronomic traits of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) and to assess the genetic diversity of the M2 generation using inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The experiment was conducted in 2021 for the M1 generation and in 2022 for the M2 generation, from May to September. The percentage of field germination decreased with increasing colchicine concentrations and exposure durations. The mean field germination percentages were 48.57% in Pavlodarskoe 4, 43.28% in Quartet, and 53.14% in PI 289324 under colchicine treatment. Chlorophyll-defective M1-M2 plants were obtained using various colchicine concentrations and exposure periods. The highest number of mutational modifications was attained with the 0.08–0.1% concentrations of colchicine. Based on the research results, a total of 248 plants with chlorophyll-defective mutations were selected from 2214 plants. The growing seasons of M1 and M2 plants were shortened by higher colchicine concentrations (0.08–0.1%) combined with soaking times of 12 and 24 h. Thus, the longest growing season (84 days) was observed with a 6 h treatment time for PI 289324, while the shortest (78 days) was recorded for 12 and 24 h treatments. The possibility of obtaining morphological mutations using colchicine has been confirmed. The ISSR primers amplified a total of 1333 fragments; 1281 bands were found to be polymorphic, and 52 bands were monomorphic. The percentage of polymorphism varied from 80 to 100%, with an average of 96.11%. Most of the different allelic bands were detected when applying the 0.08% colchicine concentration. These positive variations are a great opportunity to use colchicine as a tool for improving agronomic traits in plant breeding.

Multivariate analysis for various agro-morphological traits of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.)

Turmeric is one of the potential spice crops having importance in culinary, colouring in textiles and therapeutic in pharmaceutical industries. The present investigation was carried out to estimate the genetic diversity of 21 turmeric genotypes representing different geographical locations of India. The principal component (PC) analysis indicated that the most of the variation among the genotypes was contributed by the first two principal components (61.38%), which were largely governed by plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf lamina length, leaf area, total leaf area, collar girth and weight of the mother rhizomes per clump. These traits showed high positive correlation with first two PCs and influenced significantly for grouping. Based on PC correlation analysis, it is evident that morphological and yield attributing traits of PC1 and PC2 are influenced and contributed for most of the variation among the genotypes. The cluster analysis revealed that the 21 genotypes fall into five clusters, and among them most divergent with distinct genotypes were cluster I, III and cluster IV. However, IISR Pragati, Rajendra Sonali and NDH 8 were found superior for fresh rhizome yield and Acc. 849 was found unique with robust mother rhizome. The present study contributes to the knowledge of genetic diversity and defining strategies for yield improvement in turmeric.

Genotype by environment interaction for agro-morphological traits and herbage nutritive values and fodder yield stability in oat (Avena sativa L.) using AMMI analysis in Ethiopia

This study aimed to evaluate the genotype by environment interaction for agro-morphological traits and fodder nutritive values of oat (Avena sativa L.) genotypes under diverse environmental conditions and to identify high fodder yielding and consistently performing genotypes in Ethiopia. Oat genotypes usually demonstrate inconsistent performance in different environments due to variations in growing environments and the existence of significant genotype by environment interaction complicates the selection process. Therefore, the genotype by environment interaction study was executed using the additive main effects and multiplicative interactions model to select superior and stable genotypes. The effects of genotype by environment interaction on fodder yield stability in twenty-four oat genotypes were investigated in nine environments using a randomized complete block design. The additive main effects and multiplicative interaction analysis of variance for fodder yield showed significant variation for genotype, environment, and genotype by environment interaction effects and the highest contributor for the total variation was the environment (67.45 %) main effect followed by genotype by environment interaction (22.73 %) and the genotype (9.82 %). The first (44.11 %) and the second (26.79 %) interaction principal component axes were significant and cumulatively accounted for 70.91 % of the total interaction variance. Based on the first two additive main effects and multiplicative interaction analyses, E6, E4, and E2 were located far from the biplot origin and had a high contribution to the total variation of genotype by environment interaction. The fodder yield of the genotypes G6, G10, G23, G7, G9, G18, G13, G1, G24, G15, G2, G3, G19, G4, and G11 were above the grand mean. The fodder yield stability result obtained from the second additive main effects and multiplicative interaction is usually more accurate compared to the first additive main effects and multiplicative interaction. Consequently, genotypes which had mean fodder yield above the grand mean and relatively stable performance were observed for G23, G6, G10, G7, G11, G1, G9, G15, G2, G3, G4, and G19. However, G2, G3, G4, G11, and G19 have released varieties while the remaining genotypes have not been yet released. Therefore, G6, G10, G23, G7, and G9 were selected for verification and cultivation of these selected genotypes would contribute more for oat fodder yield improvement programs in Ethiopia.