Performance stability of promising chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars in Jharkhand

Development of cultivars/varieties, adapted to a wider range of diversified environment is the ultimate goal of chickpea improvement programme. The genotype x environment interaction may assist in understanding the structure and nature of GE interaction and stability performance. In this study ten promising cultivars of chickpea were evaluated in five different locations of Jharkhand (BAU Ranchi-E₁, Dryland Agriculture-E₂, ZRS Dumka-E₃, ZRS Darisai-E₄ and ZRS Chianki-E₅) for two consecutive years in Randomized Block Design with three replications. Data were collected on yield and other quantitative characters. Regression approach of Eberhart and Russel (1966) model was used for stability analysis. Variance due to cultivars, environments and GxE were significant forfourtraits under investigation i.e., grain yield, days to maturity, number of pods/plants and 100-seed weight. Both linear as well as nonlinear component were equally important for determining the yield. Birsa chana 3 produced maximum grain yield (1461 kg/ha) followed by check KWR108 (1303 kg/ha). The chickpea line Birsa chana 3 showed the yield advantage of 12% over check KWR108 and consistently performed better in above average environments followed by PG186, KWR108 (Ch₁) and PG114 (Ch₂). Although, KPG59, BG372 and BG256 had better yield potential but they were found unstable for grain yield. On the basis above results, Birsa chana 3 has consistently higher grain yield along with wide adoptability and it may be considered for cultivation in Jharkhand.