Abstract:
The experiment was conducted at experimental sites of Adet Agricultural Research Center namely
Finoteselam, Adet, Simada, Jnjibara and Debretabor in 2014 cropping season under rain fed
condition. In Ethiopia, although there are recently released and better performing bread wheat
varieties, Western Amhara Region farmers grow relatively older varieties. The objectives of the
experiment were to evaluate the nature and extent of genotype by environment interaction in grain
yield and to examine yield stability of varieties in western Amhara region. Twelve bread wheat
varieties were used as experimental treatments. The varieties were laid out in randomized complete
block design with three replications per site. The analysis of variance showed highly significant
differences among genotypes across environments (P-::..0.01). Ga'ambo (G4) depicted higher grain
yield and stem, stripe and leaf rust resistance, whereas Kubsa (G 12) showed a lowest grain yield and
susceptible for stem, stripe and leaf rust in all environments. Ogolcho and Tsehay also showed a
higher grain yield at most environment except at Injibara, and rust resistant except stripe rust at
Simada. Some bread wheat genotypes such as Kubsa and Gassay have lost high yielding and rust
resistance potential. Kubsa, Hidase, Huluka and Gassay should not be used for production over the
tested environment. Shorima and Danda 'a in all locations except Finoteselam, and Tay in all
locations except Simada could be recommended for production. Environments E3 and E4 were
showed close similarity, while E2 was quite different from the tested environments. Bread wheat
breeders should be focused not only on yield and yield related traits, but also on disease resistance
improvements. Molecular study will also be needed to identify high yielding, rust resistance QTLs or
genes and to improve the durability of rust disease resistance by introgressing multiple resistance
genes into elite bread wheat genotypes.