Unraveling the Stability of Sugarcane Clones Using Multivariate Stability Models for Cane Yield and Quality Under Subtropical Climates

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is an important commercial crop, which provides 40% of the world's ethanol and around 80% of the world's sugar. The identification of stable clones for economic traits is very important for sugarcane improvement under changing climatic conditions. A set of 120 clones along with four standards were evaluated for yield and quality traits during 3 years 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 in an augmented block design. There was a significant genotype, environment, and genotype x environment interaction (GEI) for cane yield and quality traits. The genotypes Co 1148, CoPb 9181, CoLk 94,184, and CoP 2061 performed best for yield traits, while CoJ 85, CoJ 88, and BO 110 performed best for quality traits, according to the PCA analysis. The genotypes were divided into four clusters by the agglomerative cluster analysis. AMMI analysis pinpointed a set of nine common genotypes, i.e., CoPb 9181, Co 1148, CoPant 03220, BO 91, CoPant 90,223, CoBln 9105, CoH 128, CoH 119, and CoH 160 that expressed higher main effects for both cane yield and CCS yield. Similarly, BO 101, BO 147, CoP 2061 expressed higher main effects for cane yield, whereas, CoSe 95,436, BO 110, CoH 160, CoPant 84,212 expressed higher main effects for the CCS yield. GGE analyzed E1 and E2 as a mega-environment for cane yield and E1 and E3 for CCS yield. Co 1148 and CoPb 9181 were reliable and high performing genotypes for both CCS yield and cane yield. Thus, PCA, AMMI, and GGE analysis unraveled that the genotype Co 1148 (G20) and CoPb 9181 (G58) were stable, high yielding, and superior compared to other test genotypes and check varieties for cane yield and CCS yield. This could be potential genetic resources for high cane and CCS yield and serve as an excellent donor in active breeding programs to develop improved sugarcane varieties with high cane and CCS yield.