STABILITY ANALYSIS FOR YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENT TRAITS IN NEW BREEDING LINES OF COWPEA (VIGNA UNGUICULATA L.)

Stability analysis was carried out in eleven genotypes of cowpea over four different environments (two years and two locations) to identify phenotypically stable genotypes for yield and their component traits. Pooled analysis of variance for stability in the performance of different genotypes of cowpea were highly significant for all the characters viz., days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, pods per plant, plant height, seeds per pod and seed yield. The G X E interaction was significant for all the characters except days to 50% flowering and seeds per pod and the significant mean square due to the environment (linear) indicated the existence of the real genotypic differences in characters for regression over the environmental mean. The genotypes namely GC-0525 for earliness, GC-0521, GC-0510 and GC-0119 for plant height, GC-0203, GC-0119, and GC-5 for pods per plant and GC-04 for seed per pod were found stable and they can be directly used for breeding program. For improvement of grain yield, the genotype GC-0121 was most stable and found 20 % superior over the popular check variety GC-5.