GxE interaction by AMMI model in melon breeding

Abstract

Melon is plant that is used for human consumption as a vegetable and for the production of seed oils. In this paper was investigated genotype x environment (GxE) stability of yield per plant in melons that have different length of growing season. Early, medium and late melon genotypes were grown in greenhouses and in the open field. Experiments were conducted at the Institute for Vegetable Crops in Smederevska Palanka, Serbia, during years 2010 and 2011. The aim of study was to determine melon genotype with stable yield per plant in both modes of production. Additional, we have set the goal to identified melon genotypes suitable for greenhouse production and melon genotypes suitable for the production in the open field. For analyses of GxE stability we used the additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model. We have calculated values of principal components (PC) of genotypes and environments, and values of genotype x environment interaction (GEI). It was found that earlier melon genotypes have a higher yield per plant when grown in an open field, while late melon genotypes had higher yield per plant when grown in a greenhouse. The most stable melon genotypes were “A2-3lb“ and „Honeydew“, while the least stable were melon genotypes „ED3“ and „Chinese muskmelon“.