Multi Season Evaluation of Foxtail Millet (Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.) Genotypes for Forage Yield Stability at the Nagaland Ecosystem

Foxtail millet is a significant crop for the ethnic tribes of Nagaland, playing a major role in their traditions. In Nagaland, most farmers cultivate foxtail millet for forage and grain purposes to maintain sustainable agriculture. Developing hybrids in foxtail millet is challenging due to the small flower morphology and the self-pollinating nature of the crop. Therefore, identifying stable forage elite variants from pure lines is a priority in foxtail millet breeding. Genotypic stability analysis conducted in this region will help to identify stable performance genotypes, which can be incorporated into crop improvement programs for developing elite lines. The current study was conducted from July 2022 to May 2023, with four different sowing dates considered as four environments. Two environments were maintained under rainfed conditions, and the other two were irrigated. Analysis of variance showed a significant (p<0.05) difference among genotypes and genotype-environment interactions, while replications showed non-significant differences. Three genotypes, namely G1, exhibited constant mean performance in fodder yield across the four environments, followed by G18 and G23. AMMI biplot 1 revealed that genotypes G1, G25 and G18 exhibited stable performance among 30 foxtail millet genotypes and these results were confirmed by AMMI stability values for G18 and G25, which exhibited the lowest AMMI stability values.