AMMI and GGE-Biplot Analysis for Seed Yield and Nutritional Quality Traits in Lentil (<em>Lens culinaris </em>Medikus) Under Multiple Stress Conditions

Genotype × environment interactions (GEIs) play an important role in the selection of suitable germplasm in breeding programs. In this study we evaluated GEI effects on 36 lentil genotypes and to identify genotypes with good performance and high stability under different environmental stresses. Entries were grown in a randomized complete block design with two replications under six test environmental conditions at two different locations in Morocco. Harvested seeds were assessed for different quality traits including cooking time, phytic acid, and iron, zinc and protein contents. Combined analysis of variance revealed that the GEI was significantly (p 0.001) evident for seed yield and quality traits. Additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis was used to examine genotype variation and GEI effects. Our results indicated environment as the main source of variation for all evaluated traits. Furthermore, multiple AMMI-based statistical models were used to rank genotypes for their performance across tested environments. A two-dimensional GGE biplot was generated using the first two principal components. The GGE-biplot analysis revealed different discriminating and representativeness abilities among the environments. Different environments showed optimal values for each trait, environment E1 was the most desirable for seed yield and cooking time. Environments E4 and E2 were ideal for high iron and zinc. Similarly, environment E5 was the most desirable for protein content and phytic acid. Different mega-environments were also identified with relevant winning genotypes for each trait. Which can be recommended as elite climate-resilient parents that can aid breeders in improving lentil yield and nutritional quality potential and stability across multiple stresses.