The germination test was done during the month of January, 2013. Petridish, blotting paper, salt solution (640 mg/L) of 4 dS/m, 6 dS/m, 8 dS/m level with control i.e., 0 dS/m salinity was used for germination. 100 seeds / petridish were sown and treatments were replicated three times. The field experiment was conducted at the Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) Sub-station at Pakhimara, Kolapara, Patuakhali and Benarpota, Satkhira and the experimental farm, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Dumki, Patuakhali during the period from mid- April to mid-August 2013. These three places are located on southern part of the country. Patuakhali district is located at about 21?49?? 22?37? north latitude and 90?08?–90?40? east longitude, Satkhirais located at 21?40?–22?58? north latitude and 88?54??89?22? east longitude (Statistical pocket Book of Bangladesh Febuary-2011, BBS).The experimental field belongs to the Agro–ecological zone of AEZ–13 (UNDP and FAO, 1988). The experimental area is situated in the sub–tropical climatic zone and is characterized by heavy rainfall during the months of April to September (Kharif Season) and scanty rainfall during the rest period of the year (Biswas, 1987). The texture of soil was silt to heavy silt in Satkhira, Pakhimara and Dumki respectively. The soil were heavy silt clay, alkaline. Fertility condition and organic matter content were medium to high medium (Quddus, 2009). Land type is medium low to low. The average pH of Benarpota 7.4 to 7.3 and that of Pakhimara was 6.8. The highest salinity was at Satkhira 13.7 dS/m and at Patuakhali 11.8 dS/m.
Plant materials
Ten white jute (Corchorus capsularis L.) genotypes were used for this experiment. The name, source of collection and general character of these genotypes are presented in Table 1. Seeds of all the varieties were collected from Bangladesh Jute Research Institute, Dhaka. The experiment (both germination test and field experiment) was conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Each plot had three rows of 3m length. Space between rows was 30 cm and plant to plant distance was 15 cm. The genotypes were randomly assigned to each plot. Data were recorded on an individual plant basis from 10 randomly selected plants of each replication at the time of harvest which was 130 days from date of sowing. Data on Plant height, Base diameter, Fresh weight with leaves per plant, Dry stick yield per plant, Dry fibre yield plant per plant and Fresh weight without leaves per plant were collected.In stability analysis, relevant biometrical methods cited in the standard texts were followed (Singh and Chaudhury, 1985; Dabhokar, 1992).The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used and the G-E interaction was estimated by the AMMI model (Zobel et al., 1988; Durate and Zimmermann, 1991). The stability parameters, regression coefficient (bi) and deviation from regression (S2di) were estimated according to Eberhart and Russell’s (1966) model. Significance of differences among bi value and unity was tested by t-test, between S2di and zero by F-test. The statistical approaches suggested by Eberhart and Russell (1966) were followed for genotype x environment interaction and estimating stability parameters.