Agricultural Research Station, Durgapura (Rajasthan)
Two sets of 10 and 12 varieties of common wheat Triticum aestivum L. were evaluated at the same five locations situated in different wheat growing regions of Rajasthan for a two to three year period. Analysis of these data provided information on the nature and magnitude of variety x environment interactions in wheat.
The first and second order interactions for grain and fodder yield were relatively small and were not as large as the variety component of variance in both the sets of trials. The presence of a small variety X location X year second order interaction indicated that the varieties did not show any differential response when grown in the present set of environments. The magnitude of this second order interaction was comparatively smaller for fodder than for the grain. There are clear indications of much greater interaction of varieties X locations in this study, which undoubtedly suggest that the number of locations must be increased in carrying out the yield trials. The variety X year first order interaction was of much smaller magnitude than the variety X location interaction, except in one out of eight cases where it was exceptionally high and significant. The experimental data presented in this study reveal the necessity of increasing the test locations but not the seasons in conducting wheat trials in Rajasthan.
