Adaptability and phenotypic stability in early common bean cultivars and lines
Aline Dalla Corte; Vania Moda-Cirino and Deonisio Destro
This study aimed at estimating the genetic variability for earliness in five common bean cultivars and nine lines. The adaptability and phenotypic stability for grain yield was also assessed using the methodology proposed by Eberhart and Russell (1966). An experiment in randomized complete blocks was carried out in three locations in the wet 2001/2002 growing season and in two locations in the 2002 dry growing season. The estimates of the coefficients of genetic variation (CVg) and environmental variation (CVe), the B index and the coefficient of genetic determination (h2) showed the presence of genetic variability among the cultivars and lines assessed for the traits number of days from emergence to the appearance of the first flower (DPF) and number of days from emergence to the date of physiological maturity (DMF). The adaptability and phenotypic stability estimates showed that there was generally wide adaptability and stable performance of the cultivars and lines in the different environments. The Alúbia, Baronesa and Carnaval Pitoco cultivars and the LP-20-89 and LP20-90 lines were promising, with high yield, wide adaptablity (β1i=1) and good stability (σ2 di=0).