Abstract

The experiment was conducted in Northern Ethiopia from 2011-2013  under rain fed conditions in a total of seven environments vis. E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6 and E7. The objective of the study was to evaluate the adaptability and stability of sesame genotypes across environments. 13 sesame genotypes were evaluated and the experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The average grain yield of the genotypes was 742.9 Kg/ha with the outstanding genotypes being G4 (926.8 kg/ha), G1 (895.1 kg/ha) and G12 (832.7 kg/ha) respectively, and low the yielding genotype was G9 (614.3 kg/ha). The combined ANOVA for grain yield showed significant effects of the genotypes, environments and genotype x environment interaction. According to the additive main effect and multiplicative interaction bi-plot (AMMI bi-plot) and Genotype x Environment interaction bi-plot (GGE bi-plot) G12 was the most stable, and G7, G8 and G9 were the unstable genotypes. Furthermore, the Genotype main effects and GGE bi-plot showed E5 as the most discriminating and representative environment. The GGE bi-plot also identified two different growing environments, the first environment containing E4 and E6 (in the Dansha area) with the wining genotype G1; and the second environment encompassing E1, E2, E3, E5 and E7 (in the Humera, Dansha and Sheraro areas) with winning genotype of G4.

Key words: AMMI bi-plot, environment, GEI, GGE bi-plot.