Yield performance and stability of dry pea and lentil genotypes in semi-arid cereal dominated cropping systems

• Genotype by environments interaction effects were significant and cross over type both for dry pea and lentil experiments.
• Based on principal component analysis, the dry pea genotypes Montech 4152 followed by SW Midas and DS Admiral; and the lentil genotypes, CDC Richlea followed by Avondale showed combination of better yield performance and stability.
• Therefore, these dry pea and lentil genotypes can be recommended for cultivation in wide range of semi-arid temperate climates and similar ecologies.

The promotion of dry pea (Pisum sativum L.) and lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) production in cereal dominated cropping systems require identifying high yielding and widely adapted genotypes for a diverse range of environments. However, this information is rarely available in the semi-arid temperate region. We carried out two separate experiments consisting of seven genotypes of dry pea in 25 environments and eight genotypes of lentil in 16 environments to determine yield performance and stability. The results showed that environments (E) and genotypes (G) and interaction (G × E) effects were highly significant (P < 0.0001) for both experiments. Average grain yield among genotypes varied from 2243 to 2680 and from 1229 to 1643 kg ha−1 for dry pea and lentil, respectively. The G × E accounted 5.4 and 15.8% of the total sum of square for dry pea and lentil experiments, respectively. The G × E effects were crossover type for both experiments revealing inconsistent performance of genotypes across environments. Based on interaction principal component analysis of G × E, the dry pea genotypes, Montech 4152 followed by SW Midas and DS Admiral showed combination of better yield performance and stability. Among the lentil genotypes, CDC Richlea followed by Avondale showed less fluctuation to environmental changes but produced similar yields compared with the high yielding lentil genotypes. Therefore, these dry pea and lentil genotypes can be recommended for cultivation in wide range of environments in the temperate semi-arid climates and similar ecologies.