STABILITY ANALYSIS FOR YIELD AND SEED QUALITY OF SOYBEAN [Glycine max (L.) Merril] ACROSS DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS IN EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA

Genotype-environment interaction has always been an important and challenging issue for plant breeders in developing desirable varieties. Determination of genotype and environment is common in breeding program as it helps to find out the genotypes that have wide or specific adaptability across various environmental conditions. In this study, fifteen varieties of soybean were evaluated for stability of grain yield (ton/ha), protein content (%), and oil content (%) at six different locations of Eastern South Dakota in 2011. Mixed linear model and Additive main effects and multiplicative interactions (AMMI) were applied to detect genotype-by-environment (G*E) interactions and stability of each variety regarding these three traits. Variance components for genotypic and G*E interaction effects were significant for all these three traits, indicating that the tested genotypes ranked differently at these locations. Based on AMMI analysis, genotypes HEFTY H15Y12 and HEFTY H19Y12 for grain yield, genotypes HEFTY H12Y12, SD 2172, NORTHSTAR 1325R2, and NORTHSTAR 1726NR2 for protein content, and genotypes HEFTY H12Y12 and NUTECH 6145 for oil content had general adaptability under the conditions of Eastern South Dakota.