Yield Stability and Association among Parametric and Non-parametric Stability Measures for Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes in Northern Region of India

Genotype environment interaction (GEI) is combination of genetic and non-genetic effects which causes differential relative performances of genotypes in different environments. The absence of GEI along with high yield indicates that the genotypes are suitable for general adaptation in those environments. Large number of parametric and non-parametric stability measures exists in literature, but the problem for plant breeder is to decide which of the stability measure is to be chosen for selecting stable genotypes. Several parametric and non-parametric stability measures were employed in the present study for identifying the stable wheat genotypes grown in north India. The measures used in this study included two parametric and eleven non-parametric stability measures. Significant positive correlation was found between all possible pairs of R_S, R_S², S_i⁽⁶⁾ _{and grain yield, which suggested that these parameters play similar roles in determining high yielding stable genotypes. Dendrogram based on correlation coefficients between the 13 parametric and non-parametric measures including mean yield of 23 genotypes was used to group the stability measures into clusters. Among the different parametric and non-parametric stability analyzed, the Kang's rank sum (RS) measure was found to be highly correlated with grain yield. It indicated that, use of to evaluate the stability of wheat genotypes in future selection programs would favor the simultaneous selection of a stable genotype with high yield in northern region of India. The genotypes DPW 621-50, HD 3132 and PBW 698 were found to be the high yielding and most stable genotypes in northern region of India. Genotypes TL 2995, WH 1156 and WH 1138 had very low yield and least stability.}