MULTI-ENVIRONMENTAL EVALUATION FOR GRAIN YIELD AND ITS COMPONENTS OF QUINOA GENOTYPES ACROSS THE NORTH WESTERN COAST OF EGYPT

Abstract

multi environmental trial involving five quinoa genotypes i.e., KVL-SRA2, KVL-SRA3, Regalona, Q-37 and Q-52 was conducted along the North Western Coast of Egypt. The eight tested environments included two sites in the first season of 2014/2015 i.e. irrigated Matrouh and rainfed Matrouh, while in the second season of 2015/2016 there were six sites including three rainfed sites of Ras El Hekma, El Neguilla and Matrouh as well as an irrigated site in Matrouh with three planting dates i.e., 1 Nov.,15 Nov., and 1 Dec. Grain yield was significantly influenced by both genotypes and environments; Regalona genotype produced the highest grain yield in most of the studied environments (6 out of 8 environments) with the highest grain yield of 3.08 t/ha in irrigated Matrouh site in the first season. Moreover, it showed more drought tolerance as compared to the other genotypes. The environment effect was the major source of variation as compared to the genotype and genotype × environment interaction effects, and attributed to 88.5% of the total variation in the grain yield. Two-mode pattern analysis of the environment-standardised matrix of grain yield revealed three genotypic groups of different response pattern across environments. In general, the grain yields of the genotypes were lower under rainfed conditions as compared to irrigated conditions, except for Matrouh in the second season for the late irrigated planting dates i.e., 15 Nov. and 1Dec. The high tolerance of quinoa to drought makes it an excellent choice for the diversification of future agriculture in the North Western Coast of Egypt and other regions with similar harsh conditions.