Potential gain from selection for yield stability in two grain sorghum populations

Maximum yield under highly unpredictable environments should be associated with selection of genotypes with superior performance across good and poor environments. Several stability parameters have been proposed to identify superior genotypes over a wide range of environments. None of these has been used as selection criteria, however, because of their low heritability. The objective of the study presented here was to compare the relative efficiency of predicted gain from indirect selection among three stability parameters: the coefficient of regression (b), deviation from regression (S d (2) ), and principal components scores (PC) from the AMMI model; two indices including mean yield and a stability parameter; and three indices involving yield at the best, the worst, and an intermediate environment. Two hundred S1 families from each of two sorghum populations (TP24D and KP9B) were evaluated at four dry-land evironments over 2 years. The low heritability estimates and the low genetic correlation between the various stability parameters and mean yield resulted in their low relative efficiency as indirect selection criteria for high yield across environments. However, when the parameters were combined with mean yield over all to create indices, the relative efficiency increased for all the environments. In terms of resource allocation, these indices were not as efficient as mean productivity, rank summation, and selection index that involved fewer environments in their estimation.