Abstract

Twenty chickpea genotypes were grown in six environments to study the phenotypic stability of grain yield and its components. It was found that the linear component of G x E interaction was more important for yield and other characters. Four genotypes i.e., SGM 84-104, IH 83-6, SG 2 and SGM 84-117 were found to have average response and high stability and high mean for grain yield. However, SGM 84-112 the highest yielding genotype was highly unstable. There was positive and significant correlation between the mean of the genotypes and the responsiveness for number of pods/plant, 100-grain weight and single plant yield which indicated that the genotypes with high mean were, in general, better responsive to favourable environments. There was lack of general association between stability of yield and its components which calls for cautious selection of genotypes based on yield alone.

Keywords: Cicer arietinum, Chickpea, Phenotypic Stability, Genotype x Environment Interaction