Yield adaptability and stability of semi-erect cowpea genotypes in the Northeast region of Brazil by REML/BLUP

• Main Authors: Maurisrael de Moura Rocha, Kaesel Jackson Damasceno-Silva, José Ângelo Nogueira de Menezes-Júnior, Hélio Wilson Lemos de Carvalho, Antônio Félix da Costa, João Maria Pinheiro de Lima, João Felinto dos Santos, Cândida Hermínia Campos de Magalhães Bertini, Adriana Rodrigues Passos, Otoniel Magalhães Morais
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal do Ceará
• Series: Revista Ciência Agronômica
• Subjects: Vigna unguiculata; Grain yield; Genotype × environment interaction; Mixed models
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1806-66902017000500862&lng=en&tlng=en

ABSTRACT Cowpea is grown in the various soil and climatic conditions of the Northeast region of Brazil. Thus, selecting and developing cultivars with high yield, stability, and adaptability for this region is necessary due to the genotype × environment interaction. The objective of this work was to select cowpea lines of semi-erect plant simultaneously for high yield, adaptability, and genotypic stability in the Northeast region of Brazil by the REML/BLUP procedure. Twenty semi-erect genotypes-15 lines and five cultivars-were evaluated in 37 environments of the Northeast region from 2013-2015. The experiments were carried out under rainfed conditions in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The adaptability and genotypic stability were evaluated by the REML/BLUP procedure. The environmental variance was the largest factor in the phenotypic variance and the genotype × environment interaction was complex-type, with a grain yield ranging from 277 kg ha-1 (Serra Talhada PE, 2015) to 2,845 kg ha-1 (São Raimundo das Mangabeiras MA, 2013), and an overall mean of 1,342 kg ha-1. According to the Harmonic Mean of Relative Performance of Genetic Values (HMRPGV) estimates, the lines MNC04-795F-153 and MNC04-795F-159 were those that simultaneously had high yield, adaptability, and genotypic stability, and can be recommended and grown with greater probability of success in the evaluated environments in the Northeast region of Brazil.