Stability Dynamics of Main Qualitative Traits in Maize Cultivations across Diverse Environments regarding Soil Characteristics and Climate

Vasileios Greveniotis (), Elisavet Bouloumpasi, Stylianos Zotis, Athanasios Korkovelos, Dimitrios Kantas and Constantinos G. Ipsilandis
Additional contact information
Vasileios Greveniotis: Hellenic Agricultural Organization Demeter, Institute of Industrial and Forage Crops, 41335 Larissa, Greece
Elisavet Bouloumpasi: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and Oenology, International Hellenic University, 66100 Drama, Greece
Stylianos Zotis: Department of Agricultural Technology, Technological Educational Institute of Western Macedonia, 53100 Florina, Greece
Athanasios Korkovelos: Directorate of Water Management of Thessaly, Decentralized Administration of Thessaly—Central Greece, 41335 Larissa, Greece
Dimitrios Kantas: Department of Animal Science, University of Thessaly, Gaiopolis, 41500 Larissa, Greece
Constantinos G. Ipsilandis: Regional Administration of Ionian Islands, 49100 Corfu, Greece

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: One of the main obstacles to finding cultivars with consistent performance across locations and years is the genotype × environment (GE) interaction effect. A new approach to stability analysis for qualitative characteristics in maize was conducted utilizing G × E interactions and further analysis via AMMI and GGE biplots. The study aimed to identify the type of trait inheritance through estimations of the stability index, to evaluate multiple locations and multiple genotypes to determine how different ecosystems and maize genotypes relate to one another, and, finally, to suggest the ideal climatic conditions and genotypes, carefully chosen for their stability. Fifteen F1 commercial maize hybrids comprised the genetic materials tested, along with 15 open-pollination lines created by 4-cycle Honeycomb assessment, at four different environments, Giannitsa, Florina, Trikala, and Kalambaka in Greece. The experiments were conducted in Randomized Complete Block Designs (RCB) with four replications. The tested characteristics were protein content (%), fat (%), ash (%), starch (%), crude fiber (%), moisture (%), seed length, seed thickness, and seed width. All genotypes showed statistically significant differences for all characteristics measured, especially for protein content and size of the kernel. G × E interaction was present only for moisture content and size of the kernel. Environments significantly affected fat, starch content, moisture content, and the kernel’s size (under a multiple G × E interaction). Protein, ash, and fiber content showed no G × E interaction. Further analysis via AMMI and GGE biplots was applied to explore the genotypic stability across all experimental environments for the traits that showed noteworthy G × E interaction. According to our results and approach, protein content is less qualitative than other characteristics like moisture and starch content. Correlations showed that negative selection for the last two characteristics, as well as for ash content, in combination with longer seeds, may lead indirectly to improved stability performance for protein content. Three environments, Giannitsa, Trikala and Kalambaka, exhibited higher stability index values for almost all characteristics measured. Therefore, those environments are perfect for ensuring the stability of the quality characteristics and could be recommended. The best maize hybrids were Mitic, 6818 and 6040, exhibiting high stability indices of quality characteristics and Kermes displaying stability for protein content. Therefore, those should be further tested in multiple environments to confirm the consistency of their high-stability performance.

Keywords: animal feed; livestock; environmental effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/5/1033/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/5/1033/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:5:p:1033-:d:1143506

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().