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Results and discussion

The analysis of variance separately conducted for each environment indicated significant differences among the varieties for gain yield, number of grains per ear, 1000 grain weight and number of ear-bearing tillers. 'Me pooled analysis (
Table 1) based on Eberhart and Russell (1966) revealed significant differences among the varieties for all the characters. The linear effect of the environment was also highly significant for all the characters, indicating that salt stress widely influenced the performance of the varieties. 'Me predictable linear variety x environment (salt stress) interaction component was also significant for all the characters.

The estimates of the three stability parameters mu (mean), bi (linear regression coefficient) and S2di (deviation from linear regression) for grain yield and its component characters for each variety are given in
Table 2 and Table 3, respectively. The varieties were classified into the following groups (Table 4).

(A) Absence of G x E interactions: This group comprises of varieties with non-significant bi and S2di , thereby suggesting their wide adaptability. However none of the varieties fell in this group for any of the characters studied, thereby indicating the predominance of genotype x salt stress interactions.

(B) Presence of G x E interactions: In this group three types of varieties must be considered. (i) The major portion of G x E interactions was explained by the linear environmental change, i.e., a significant bi and a non- significant S2di. (ii) Along with a significant bi the estimates of S2di were also significant, suggesting a significant contribution of linear and non-linear components to the performance of the varieties. (iii) The major portion of G x E interactions was explained by the nonlinear component, indicating high unpredicatability hence instability of the varieties.

Finlay and Wilkinson (1963) considered linear regression coefficient as a measure of stability, whereas Eberhart and Russell (1966) emphasized that both linear (bi) and non-linear (S2di) components of the interaction should be considered for judging the phenotypic stability of a genotype. Breese (1969) and Paroda and Hayes (1971) underlined that linear regression coefficient should simply be regarded as a measure of response of a particular genotype, whereas the deviation which could not be explained by the linear regression should be considered as a measure of stability; a genotype with the lowest deviation being the most stable and vice-versa. Keeping these in view the varieties classified to the first group are of more importance.

Varietal classification given in
Table 4 indicated that for a majority of varieties a significant portion of G x E interactions was explained by the linear environmental change, i.e., a significant bi and a non-significant S2di. In this group, varieties Hybrid 65 and PBW 65 showed significantly higher mean yield along with bi nearly equal to unity. As shown in Table 2 and Fig. 1, varieties like Hybrid 65 and PBW 65 had high grain yield/ row under normal environment and the reduction of yield was relatively small under salinity stress of ECiw 20 and 30 dSm-1. These varieties also gave moderately better yields under alkalinity stress of pH 9.2 and 9.4. Similar result was also seen in varieties Sujata and Hybrid 65 for number of grains per ear, and in varieties HDR 77, Sujata, Hybrid 65, PBW 65 and C 306 for 1000 grain yield, while no variety was stable for the number of ear-bearing tillers. It can be thus inferred that the variety Hybrid 65 was the most suitable variety under salt stress conditions.

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