Comprehensive Analysis of Genotype by Environment Interaction of Maize Cultivars under Multi-Environment Conditions in North China

A multi-environment trial of maize cultivars in the north of China was conducted at 17 sites to assess the agronomic traits and test location representativeness. An additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model and a genotype main effect (G) and genotype and environment interaction (GE), (GGE) biplot were used to analyze the data. Results showed that the grain yields of summer maize cultivars were remarkably influenced by environment (E), genotype (G), and genotype by environment interaction (GEI). The effect of GEI was 1.53 times higher than that of genotypes. The cultivars Hengyu1182, Longhua369 and J1302 exhibited good yield and stability. Among sites Baoding, Xinle, Yutian and Zhengding showed good discriminating ability while Langfang, Gaoyang and Tanchang sites displayed good representativeness. In correlation analysis, agronomic traits, such as ear length, kernel row number, and 1000-grain weight were positively correlated with maize yield. Conversely, barren ear tip was negatively correlated with yield. This study confirmed that the AMMI model and GGE biplot are effective methods for exploring the stability and adaptability of genotypes and representative patterns of biplots in crop breeding and subsequent cultivar recommendations. (C) 2019 Friends Science Publishers