| Genotype by environment interaction (GxE) is the tendency of the phenotypic performance of two or more plant genotypes in one environment to not be predictive of their relative performance in another environment. To discover the importance of GxE in this region, a large set of USDA and commercial hybrids were tested in the regions of practical significance to sunflower production in order to produce recommendations regarding mega-environments for yield and oil. Rank changes for oil content occurred among hybrids and two common factors accounted for 68.6% of the total GxE variation. Breeding programs testing pre-commercial hybrids in multiple environments for oil content could be beneficial. Yield covariates for lodging, bird damage, and disease were significant but occurred in different locations with variable severity each year making it difficult to divide the growing region into mega-environments for yield. |
