Abstract

Faba bean, a crucial cool-season grain legume, grown in over 70 countries worldwide. Ethiopia is the second-largest faba bean growing country and the first producer in Africa. The crop is mainly cultivated in mid- and high-altitude areas, providing food and feed to small-holder farming communities and providing foreign exchange and income for farmers. However, faba bean yield performance is unstable and affected by environmental variations. To increase productivity, breeders test large numbers of genotypes in various environments to evaluate yield stability and wide adaptability. The study evaluates the performance of 14 faba bean genotypes across four locations in South Eastern Ethiopia. The study explores genotype by environment interactions (GEI) using AMMI, GGE biplot, and BLUP methods. The results revealed significant effects of genotypes, environments, and genotypes by environments for Days to flowering, pods per plan, seeds per pod, grain yield, thousand seed weight, and rust disease. AMMI analysis shows that environmental factors majorly influence thousand seed weight, while genotype effects are more prominent for grain yield. GGE biplot identifies the top-performing genotypes and suggests that different environments have varied potentials for both traits. BLUP analysis ranks genotypes for stability and yield, finding ‘Numan’ and ‘Dosha’ among the top performers. The combination of AMMI and GGE biplot provides comprehensive insights into genotype performance and stability across environments.