Evaluation of Agronomic Traits and Yield Stability in Several Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Genotypes

In this study, a total 15 potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) genotypes (11 potato hybrid clones and four control varieties including Caesar, Luca, Savalan and Agria), were evaluated during two cropping seasons in three different locations of Iran, including Ardabil, Hamadan and Karaj, using a randomized complete block design with three replications. During growth period and after harvesting, some of the characteristics like plant height, main stem number, tuber weight per plant, tuber number per plant, marketable tuber yield and tuber dry matter percent were measured. The combined analysis of variance indicated that the effect of genotype on all of the traits under study was highly significant (p < 0.01). The interaction effect for year×location (Y×L) was significant for all traits under study except for tuber number per plant. The interaction effect for genotype×year (G×Y) was significant for all traits under study except for main stem number per plant and tuber dry matter percent. The interaction effect for genotype×location (G×L) was highly significant for all studied traits (p < 0.01). The interaction effect for genotype×location×year (G×L×Y) was highly significant for tuber number per plant and plant height (p < 0.01). Cluster analysis divided 15 genotypes into three clusters. The first cluster consisted of hybrids G1 (clone 16-75), G3, (clone 15-75), G5 (clone 13-75) and G7 (clone 23-75). These hybrids had higher average marketable tuber yield, tuber weight per plant, tuber number per plant, tuber average weight, plant height and tuber dry matter percent as compared to the remaining genotypes. Based on “which-won-where” view of the GGL biplot, G5 (clone 13-75) was desirable in environments HN (Hamadan), and KJ (Karaj), whereas G1 (clone 16-75) and G8 (Savalan) were favorable in environment AL (Ardabil). According to results, hybrids G5 (clone 13-75), G7 (clone 23-75) and G1 (clone 16-75) were near to the ideal genotype and could be regarded as desirable genotypes.