Ninety-one S4 maize lines were evaluated along with nine homozygous inbred lines in two sets of environments: a stress set, with four environments (severe drought, moderate drought, low nitrogen, and high density) and a non-stress set with five natural environments, each located in different ecological zones in Côte d'Ivoire. Wricke's (1962) ecovalence (W2), Hühn's (1979) non-parametric S3 statistic that combines yield and stability, and Eberhart and Russell's (1966) stability parameters, bi and S2, were used to identify stable lines across different environments. Canonical correlation analysis was used to predict the association between yield in the natural environments and yield in stress environments. Results indicate that the yield stability of the lines was associated with their stalk and root quality. A total of 54% and 17% of the lines had negative ASI under severe drought and high density, respectively. Yield under high density and low nitrogen was correlated with yield under the natural environment (P<0.01). Yield under severe drought was only correlated with the yield under moderate drought (r = 0.52; P<0.01). Yields under low nitrogen and under moderate drought stress were positively correlated. The superiority of genotypes under optimal conditions tended to be maintained under stress. Three lines performed reasonably well under low nitrogen, moderate and severe droughts.

English

9802|AGRIS 9702

Jose Juan Caballero

CIMMYT Publications Collection