Stability Indices to Deciphering the Genotype-by-Environment Interaction (GEI) Effect: An Applicable Review for Use in Plant Breeding Programs

Experiments measuring the interaction between genotypes and environments measure the spatial (e.g., locations) and temporal (e.g., years) separation and/or combination of these factors. The genotype-by-environment interaction (GEI) is very important in plant breeding programs. Over the past six deca...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Alireza Pour-Aboughadareh, Marouf Khalili, Peter Poczai, Tiago Olivoto
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-02-01
Series:Plants
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/11/3/414
Description
Summary:Experiments measuring the interaction between genotypes and environments measure the spatial (e.g., locations) and temporal (e.g., years) separation and/or combination of these factors. The genotype-by-environment interaction (GEI) is very important in plant breeding programs. Over the past six decades, the propensity to model the GEI led to the development of several models and mathematical methods for deciphering GEI in multi-environmental trials (METs) called “stability analyses”. However, its size is hidden by the contribution of improved management in the yield increase, and for this reason comparisons of new with old varieties in a single experiment could reveal its real size. Due to the existence of inherent differences among proposed methods and analytical models, it is necessary for researchers that calculate stability indices, and ultimately select the superior genotypes, to dissect their usefulness. Thus, we have collected statistics, as well as models and their equations, to explore these methods further. This review introduces a complete set of parametric and non-parametric methods and models with a selection pattern based on each of them. Furthermore, we have aligned each method or statistic with a matched software, macro codes, and/or scripts.
ISSN:2223-7747