GENOTYPE X ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION AND GRAIN YIELD STABILITY OF HYBRID POPCORNS EVALUATED IN DIFFERENT CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF TURKEY

The research was conducted to determine the grain yield and stability of popcorn hybrids grown in four different climatical conditions in 2016 and 2017 growing seasons. The experiments were conducted in 8x8 triple lattice design with three replications using 128 candidate popcorn hybrids and 5 commercial standard varieties. Mean popcorn yields of genotypes in Izmir, Isparta, Samsun, Cankiri/Amasya for 2016 and 2017 were 5.40-5.51 t ha(-1) and 5.41-6.12 t ha(-1), 5.74-5.75 t ha(-1) and 5.49-5.11 t ha(-1), respectively. The results indicated that 2015-31, 2016-31, 2016-51 and 2015-59 popcorn hybrids had high yield potential. The stability analysis based on the b, r(2) and S-d(2) values showed that 2015-22, 2015-28 and 2015-102 genotypes were the most stable hybrid determined in the first year. In the second year, the genotypes 2016-5, 2016-52, 2016-59 and 2016-6 apparent with the high adaptation ability.