Influence of the environmental index on the estimation of stability parameters of Eberhart and Russell
Cleso Antônio Patto Pacheco, Antônio Carlos de Oliveira, Elto Eugênio Gomes e Gama, Manoel Xavier dos Santos, Sidney Netto Parentoni, Walter Fernandes Meirelles, Paulo Evaristo de Oliveira Guimarães, and Pedro Hélio Estevam Ribeiro
The objective of this study was to verify the influence of the environmental index on the analysis and estimates of adaptability and stability parameters, using environmental indices obtained from four genotype groups (A, B, C, and QPM). Data of preliminary maize cultivars trials of Embrapa Maize and Sorghum, were used obtained in the 2000/2001 harvest season in nine environments of the southeast and central-western regions. The interchange of environmental indices did not affect the parameter estimates and the genotype classification of the four groups equally in relation to their stabilities of yield and response to environments. The cause of this variation is probably more linked to the experimental errors and the differences in the interaction of the genotypes of each group with the environments than to the covariance of the genotype means with their respective environmental indices.