Selection of black bean pre-cultivars based on adaptability and stability for the State of Rio de Janeiro

The development of new cultivars is a strategy used in breeding programs to increase food production with environmental sustainability. The genotype × environment interaction is a great challenge in the identification and selection of superior genotypes for different edaphoclimatic conditions. Due to this interaction, it is essential to select and develop materials that can provide not only high productivity but also wide adaptability and production stability. Given the above, this work aims to select bean pre-cultivars regarding grain productivity, adaptability and stability for the State of Rio de Janeiro. In the 2018 harvest, two inbred lines competition trials were carried out and three in the 2019 harvest. Eleven black bean genotypes were evaluated in five environments, and the experiments were set up in a randomized block design with three replications. The adaptability and genotypic stability were assessed via the GGE Biplot, Eberhart and Russell and Lin and Binns methodologies, with the aid of the GENES and R software systems. The methodologies based on simple linear regression and non-parametric statistical analysis were concordant in the identification of genotypes with production stability (BRS Esteio, BRS FP 403 and CNFP 16459), responsive to environmental improvement (BRS Esteio) and adapted to unfavorable environments (BRS Esteio). Furthermore, BRS Esteio was classified as the ideotype and presented the best adaptability, high stability and performance above the general average. Thus, the adaptability and stability analysis methodologies proved to be effective and consistent in identifying superior genotypes.