Eight advanced breeding lines of cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] were evaluated in a multi-environment trial for phenotypic stability of grain yield, maturity and grain size. There was highly significant genotype × environment interaction for all traits. Simple correlation coefficient was computed to ascertain the level of relationship between stability parameters and agronomic traits. Line IT93K-452-1 was identified as most stable genotype and can be grown all over the Nigerian cowpea belt. The line IT90K-503-1 was the most unstable genotype in terms of grain yield and was also nonresponsive to the environment. However, it is environment specific. IT93K-452-1 has relatively stable maturity across environments. The result suggests that IT93K-452-1 will mature around the average of 65 days irrespective of the location in Nigeria. Lines IT95K-1455 and IT90K-503-1, whose stability parameter values were high, means that in respect of maturity, they are photo-thermo sensitive. They can mature early or delayed depending on the photo-thermal environment. However, lines such as IT93K-273-2-1, IT93K-129-4, IT93K-452-1 and IT86D-719 are photo-thermo insensitive. Line IT93K-1543 was identified as the most desirable genotype in terms of grain size. This is followed by IT93K-452-1. The line IT90K-503-1 had small but unstable seed size. This work identified IT93K-452-1 and IT93K-273-2-1 as the most stable genotypes for yield and maturity. Grain yield was highly positively correlated with bi and R2 but was negatively correlated with Sd2i. Maturity was negatively highly correlated with bi, Wi, and CVi. Grain size on the other hand is not correlated with any of the parameters.
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