Stability of foliage yield in vegetable amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor L.)

Abstract

The vegetable amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor L.) is being grown in India especially in hilly areas since centuries as pot herb. Its foliage is rich in proteins, vitamin and minerals like iron and calcium [1]. A considerable amount of vitamin 'C' also remain present in the leaves, which plays a significant role in maintaining the preferred oxidation-reduction potential in human tissues [2]. Due to its nutritional quality, the selection of genotypes for high foliage yield is necessary. A genotype can be considered superior if it has potential for high yield under favorable environment and at the same time has a great deal of phenotypic stability. The stability analysis provides information on genotypes for their stability over wide agro climatic conditions. Numerous statistics, parametric as well as non-parametric have been proposed for the measurement of yield stability [3-7]. These measures grouped into two categories depending upon the underlying basic stability concepts involved biological and agronomical concepts of stability. The agronomic stability measures can be further classified according to whether they are based on genotype x environment interaction component or regression on environmental mean. The genotype (G) x environmental (E) interaction leads to a successful evaluation of stable genotypes, which could be used in breeding program. In vegetable amaranth, no such study has been conducted. Hence, in the present investigation 10 important genotypes were evaluated for G x E interaction to identify stable genotypes as variety for use as commercial cultivation.