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Glossary
Sections:
Introduction
Principles of inheritance
Genotypic variation
Other forms of heritable variation
Quantitative variation and heritability
Quantitative variation
Quantitative variation, contd.
Additive genes
Dominant gene action
Epistasis
Heritability
Genotype x environment (GxE) interaction
Heterosis
Inbreeding depression
Novel sources of genetic variation
The practice of plant breeding
Breeding methods
Plant Breeders' rights
New technologies for plant breeding
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Genotype x environment (GxE) interaction

The performance of each plant is determined both by its genotype and by the environment in which it is grown. But what about the performance of a given genotype in a number of different environments?

The best performer in one environment (eg var#2 in env#1) may not be the best in another – var#2 is the poorest performer in env#3.

So which is the best variety here? It depends which environment is of most importance.

Because GxE is so common, it is usually better to identify a line which shows a "stable" performance – here, this is var#1, even though it is not the highest yielder in any of the three environments.