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a Dep. of Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares Univ., Tehran, Iran
b Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Karaj, Iran
* Corresponding author (dehghanr{at}modares.ac.ir)
Received for publication December 17, 2004.
| ABSTRACT |
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Abbreviations: ARAK, Arak Station ARDA, Ardabil Station E, environment main effect G, genotype main effect GE, genotype x environment interaction GGE, genotype plus genotype x environment interaction GGL, genotype plus genotype x location interaction HAMA, Hamedan Station KARA, Karaj Station KHOY, Khoy Station L, location main effect MASH, Mashhad Station MET, multienvironment trials MIAN, Miandoab Station NYSH, Nyshabour Station TABR, Tabriz Station Y, year main effect ZANJ, Zanjan Station
| INTRODUCTION |
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The measured yield of each cultivar in each test environment is a measure of an environment main effect (E), a genotype main effect (G), and the genotype x environment (GE) interaction (Yan and Kang, 2003). Typically, E explains 80% or higher of the total yield variation; however, it is G and GE that are relevant to cultivar evaluation (Yan, 2002). The term GE interaction commonly refers to yield variation that cannot be explained by G or E alone (Yan and Hunt, 2001). Significant GE interaction results from changes in the magnitude of the differences among genotypes in different environments or from changes in relative ranking of the genotypes (Allard and Bradshaw, 1964). The GE interaction reduces the correlation between phenotype and genotype and selection progress (Comstock and Moll, 1963). The GE interaction has been studied by different researchers, and several methods have been proposed to analyze it, e.g., univariate methods such as Francis and Kannenberg's (1978) coefficient of variability, Plaisted and Peterson's (1959) mean variance component for pairwise GE interactions, Wricke's (1962) ecovalence, Shukla's (1972) stability variance, Finlay and Wilkinson's (1963) regression coefficient, Perkins and Jinks's (1968) regression coefficient, and Eberhart and Russell's (1966) sum of squared deviations from regression. Usually a large number of genotypes are tested across a number of sites and years, and it is often difficult to determine the pattern of genotypic response across environments without the help of graphical display of the data (Yan et al., 2001). The biplot technique provides a powerful solution to this problem (Gabriel, 1971). Biplot analysis is a multivariate analytical technique that graphically displays the two-way data and allows visualization of the interrelationship among environments, genotypes, and interactions between genotypes and environments. Biplots are useful in summarizing and approximating patterns of response that exist in the original data (Gabriel, 1971). Two types of biplots, the AMMI biplot (the statistical model of additive main effect and multiplicative interaction; Gauch, 1988; Zobel et al., 1988) and the GGE biplot (genotype main effect plus genotype x environment interaction; Yan et al., 2000) have been used to visualize genotype x environment two-way data.
Yan et al. (2000) presented standard biplots of the site regression model to select the best performing cultivars in subsets of sites. In analyzing Ontario winter wheat performance trial data, Yan and Hunt (2001) used the GGEbiplot software (Yan, 2001) to obtain the first two principal components (PC1 and PC2) derived from PC analysis of environment-centered yield data. GGEbiplot can be useful in some major aspects. The first is to display the "which-won-where" pattern of data that may lead to the identification of high-yielding and stable cultivars and the second is to identify discriminating and representative test environments (Yan et al., 2001).
Iran is currently one of the world's largest net importers of agricultural products, importing about 30% of its requirements. Rapid population growth is expected to increase the demand for food, since the countrywide average precipitation is about 250 mm yr1. Iran is working toward increasing its agricultural efficiency. To increase its efficiency, the agricultural sector of Iran is attempting to improve barley production through identification and introduction of stable and adaptive cultivars.
A major challenge of plant breeding is finding the useful information within the quantities of data. The GGE biplot graphically displays G and GE of a MET in a way that facilitates visual cultivar evaluation and mega-environment identification. The GGEbiplot software was chosen to facilitate the application of the GGE biplot methodology in MET data analysis and the analyses of two-way data.
Our objective was to use the GGE biplot technique to examine the possible existence of different mega-environments in barley-growing regions in Iran. Other objectives were to apply this method to determine the best genotype for each mega-environment and determine discriminating ability and representativeness of the environments.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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| RESULTS AND DISCUSSION |
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Winning Genotype and Mega-environment
Visualization of the "which-won-where" pattern of MET data is important for studying the possible existence of different mega-environments in a region (Gauch and Zobel, 1997; Yan et al., 2000, 2001). The polygon view of a biplot is the best way to visualize the interaction patterns between genotypes and environments and to effectively interpret a biplot (Yan and Kang, 2003). The vertex genotypes in this investigation were Bahtim7-D1/79-w40762, Walfajre/W1-2291, Vavilon, Star/Alger, Owb70173-2H-OH, K-201/3-2, and Kavir/Badia"s" (Fig. 1A). The vertex genotype for each sector is the one that gave the highest yield for the environments that fall within that sector. Another important feature of Fig. 1A is that it indicates environmental groupings, which suggests the possible existence of different mega-environments. Thus, based on biplot analysis of 3 yr of data, three mega-environments are suggested in Fig. 1A. The first mega-environment contains locations KHOY, MASH, MIAN, KARA, and NYSH, with genotype Bahtim7-D1/79-w40762 being the winner; the second mega-environment contains locations TABR, HAMA, ARDA, and ARAK, with genotype Walfajre/W1-2291 being the winner. The location of ZANJ makes up another mega-environment, with 73-M4-30 the winner.
Mean Performance and Stability of Genotypes
In Fig. 1B, genotypes Bahtim7-D1/79-w40762 and Walfajre/W1-2291 had the highest mean yield and genotype K-201/3-2 had the poorest mean yield. Mean yields of the genotypes were in the following order: Walfajre/W1-2291 > BAHTIM7-D1/79-W40762 > L.124//L.640/L.527 > Cossak/Gerbel/Harmal
73-M4-30 > C1-10143/Walfajre > Toji"S"/Robur
Kozir > Kavir/Badia"s"
Gerbel/Alger
Star/Alger > L.1242/Kossak
Dundy
Arass/Cyclon > L.131//cg/CM
Schulyer/L.640 > Owb70173-2H-OH > Vavilon > K-201/3-2.
The performance of genotypes Star/Alger and K-201/3-2 were the most variable (least stable), whereas genotypes Cossak/Gerbel/Harmal and Toji"S"/Robur were highly stable. An ideal genotype is one that has both high mean yield and high stability. The center of the concentric circles (Fig. 1C) represents the position of an ideal genotype, which is defined by a projection onto the mean-environment axis that equals the longest vector of the genotypes that had above-average mean yield and by a zero projection onto the perpendicular line (zero variability across environments). A genotype is more desirable if it is closer to the ideal genotype. Therefore, genotypes Bahtim7-D1/79-w40762 and L.124//L.640/L.527 are more desirable than other genotypes (Fig. 1C).
Discriminating Ability and Representativeness of Environments
Discriminating ability is an important measure of a test environment. Another equally important measure of a test environment is its representativeness of the target environment. An ideal environment should be highly differentiating of the genotypes and at the same time representative of the target environment.
The ideal environment represented by the small circle with an arrow pointing to it (Fig. 1D) is the most discriminating of genotypes and yet representive of the other test environments. Therefore, ARDA, TABR, and HAMA are more desirable test environments than ZANJ, KARA, or MASH.
Comparing Genotype Performance at the Best Location
Mean comparison of yield at 10 locations (during 3 yr) indicated that Karaj had the highest yield (Table 4). Figure 2A is a graphic comparison of the relative performance of all genotypes at Karaj. This figure indicates that at Karaj, genotype Bahtim7-D1/79-w40762 had the highest yield and Owb70173-2H-OH had the poorest yield. The perpendicular line separates cultivars that performed below average from those performing above average at Karaj: cultivars Owb70173-2H-OH, Schulyer/L.640, Star/Alger, L.131//cg/CM, Vavilon, L.1242/Kossak, and Gerbel/Alger performed below average, whereas the other cultivars, on the same side of the perpendicular line as Karaj, performed equal to or above average. The order of the genotypes at Karaj was Schulyer/L.640 < Star/Alger < L.131//cg/CM < Vavilon < L.1242/Kossak < Gerbel/Alger < Kozir < 73-M4-30
K-201/3-2 < Dundy < Toji"S"/Robur < Arass/Cyclon
Walfajre/W1-2291 < Kavir/Badia"s"
Cossak/Gerbel/Harmal < C1-10143/Walfajre < L.124//L.640/L.527.
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Comparing Performance of Two Genotypes at All Locations
In Fig. 2C, genotypes Bahtim7-D1/79-w40762 and Owb70173-2H-OH are compared. Bahtim7-D1/79-w40762 was better than Owb70173-2H-OH at ARAK, ARDA, HAMA, KARA, KHOY, MASH, MIAN, NYSH, and TABR, while Owb70173-2H-OH was better at ZANJ.
All of the results of the comparison indicate that the order at different locations was not similar; there are several environmental factors such as preseason rainfall, cropping season rainfall, minimum and maximum temperature, and relative humidity that contributed to the GE interaction sum of squares. Saeed and Francis (1984) also found that cropping season rainfall and temperature had a significant effect on yield and contributed to the GE interaction. This was the greatest reason for the change in performance order at different locations in this study.
The climatic conditions in many regions of Iran are typical of arid and semiarid regions; however, much of the arable land is devoted to growing wheat and barley, which are staple foods and the main sources of protein for the average Iranian. Barley production is mostly possible only with irrigation, due to low rainfall and high evaporation rates. An estimated 32 Mha of unused land are potentially suitable for barley production, but the shortage of water limits their agricultural role. For barley production, recommendations are based on the premise that regional characteristics are persistent and that breeding locally adapted cultivars can be helpful toward increasing agricultural efficiency; on this basis, we have used the GGL biplot.
Correlation among Environments
The correlation coefficients among the 10 test environments are presented in Table 4. The vector view of a GGE biplot provides a succinct summary of the interrelationships among the environments (Yan, 2002). Figure 2D is the vector view of the GGE biplot, in which the environments are connected with the biplot origin via lines. This view of the biplot aids understanding of the interrelationships among the environments. The cosine of the angle between the vectors of two environments approximates the correlation coefficient between them. Therefore, the most prominent relations were: (i) near-zero correlations between MIAN and ZANJ, between ARDA and KARA, and between ARAK and MASH as indicated by the near-perpendicular vectors (r = cos90 = 0); and (ii) positive associations among TABR, HAMA, and ARDA, and between KHOY and TABR as indicated by acute angles.
The vector view of a biplot can be used to identify different mega-environments; test environments from different mega-environments should have large angles or low or negative correlations. Another useful property of the vector view of the biplot is that the length of the environment vectors approximates the standard deviation within each environment, which is a measure of their discriminating ability. Thus, ARDA and KHOY were most discriminating and KARA and NYSH were least discriminating (Fig. 2D). The vector view of a biplot helped identify redundant test environments. Environments with small angles between them were highly positively correlated, and they provided similar information on genotypes.
Obtaining similar information by using fewer test environments should reduce the cost of testing and increase breeding efficiency. In the MET data of barley in all 3 yr, locations KHOY and MASH were closely correlated (Fig. 2D), suggesting that these two locations provide redundant information about genotypes. Therefore, we suggest that one of the two locations be dropped to reduce the cost of testing.
In short, this study indicates the possibility of improving progress from selections under diverse location conditions by applying a GGL biplot.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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