Dry Leaf Biomass Stability of Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) Clones over Different Environments

Abstract

In order to identify stable high-yielding stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) genotypes, a multi-environment testing was conducted over four different growing environments. The experiments were conducted in a randomized block design, with three replications during 2019 and 2020. The combined analysis of variance showed significant variation for genotype, environment, and G×E interaction for all studied traits. The highest mean performance for all the traits revealed that Hoshiarpur has favorable conditions for stevia cultivation, and CSIR-IHBT-ST-1801 followed by CSIR-IHBT-ST-G12 were the best performers over all the locations. The Eberhart and Russell model-based stability parameters demonstrated that CSIR-IHBT-ST-1801 was a stable performer for dry leaf biomass, and that was also further confirmed by GGE biplot analysis. Primary shoots were major contributors to the dry leaf biomass, as indicated by the substantial positive leaf biomass contribution shown by Pearson's correlation coefficients. As a result, primary shoots might be utilized as selection criteria to increase the dry leaf biomass. The CSIR-IHBT-ST-1801 could be used as a stable high-yielding variety for the targeted regions and also, can be used for further stevia breeding programs.