ABSTRACT
Background: The genetic diversity and stability analysis based on agro-morphological traits among rice genotypes developed through SSR marker-assisted backcrossing was evaluated at college of agricultural science (CAS), Ebonyi State niversity, Abakaliki, Nigeria. Methods: In this study, 9 rice accessions sourced from the Iinstitute of tropical agriculture and food security (ITAFoS), universiti Putra, Malaysia and Ebonyi, Nigeria; were evaluated for yield stability performance. The experiments were laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications each for two seasons. Results: Result of the evaluated rice accessions showed highly marked morphological variability based on the mean performance and were grouped into three main clusters. Cluster I had CP, cluster II contained Line4, Line5, Line6, and Line8, and cluster III had Line1, Line7, Line12, and Putra-1. The first, 3 principal components were identified and retained for having the Eigen-value >1. The first PC had an eigenvalue of (6.30) with 52.5% proportion of which plant height accounted most for this variation with (0.359) whereas panicle length contributed the least (-0.13). For stability analysis, CP had highest values for most of the parameters. High heritability value was recorded for all nine traits which range between 71.04% and 95.06%. The highest heritability value (95.06%) was found in Days 50% heading while grain width had the lowest (71.04%). Conclusions: It could be concluded that CP, Putral-1, and line7 were the most stable in terms of yield across the two seasons of this study; hence, recommended for parental materials for hybridization.