PHENOTYPIC STABILITY OF YIELD AND RELATED TRAITS IN PIGEONPEA

Eleven early maturing pigeonpea genotypes were evaluated along with a national check (ICPL-87) for their yield performance during four years (1997-2000). The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with four replications. Significant genotypic differences for yield and majority of the component characters were observed. Highly significant genotype-environment interaction indicated differential response of the genotypes to the environmental changes. The stability analysis was carried out ,which showed significance of linear component of variation for important traits including grain yield. The genotype SKNP-9264 showed highest yield (1874 kg/ ha) with high stability (bi=1.09, S2di=0.27) followed by SKNP-9256, SKNP-9203-1, SKNP-9217 and SKNP-9226. The genotypes SKNP-9264 and SKNP-9256 were also found stable for pods/ plant, primary branches/plant, 100-seed weight, plant height and days to maturity. Similar trend for component traits was also observed for SKNP-9203-1, SKNP-9217 and SKNP-9226. SKNP-9260-2 was found unstable over environments for yield (bi=0.64, S2di=1.45). The result revealed that SKNP-9264 and SKNP-9256 can be exploited for stabilizing yield of pigeonpea in fluctuating environments of Gujarat state.