East African Scholars Journal of Agriculture and Life Sciences Abbreviated Key Title: East African Scholars J Agri Life Sci ISSN 2617-4472 (Print) | ISSN 2617-7277 (Online) Published By East African Scholars Publisher, Kenya Volume-4 | Issue-10 | Dec-2021 | DOI:10.36349/easjals.2021.v04i10.002 *Corresponding Author: César Pedro 201 Original Research Article Genotypic Selection for Stability and Yield Adaptability of Short-Duration Pigeon Pea in Mozambique using REML/BLUP Mixed Models Marques Cachisso Bambo Donça 1 , César Pedro 1* , Salva Inácio Somueque 1 , Belarmino Amadeu Faife Divage 1 , Henriques Victor Colial 1 , Sabir Tualibo Gimo 1 , Diocleciano Calton Alexandre 1 , Edson Cândido Bambo 1 , Ivan de Paiva Barbosa 2 , Renan Garcia Malikouski 3 , Aníbal Gonçalves Pereira Muquera 4 1 Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique-Centro Zonal Nordeste. Av.FPLM. Estrada de Corrane, Km 7, C.P.622. Nampula, Moçambique 2 Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Departamento de Agronomia, Avenida Peter Henry Rolfs, s/no, Campus Universitário, CEP 36570- 000 Viçosa, MG, Brazil 3 Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Departamento de Biologia Geral, Avenida Peter Henry Rolfs, s/no, Campus Universitário, CEP 36570-000 Viçosa, MG, Brazil 4 Serviço Distrital de Actividades Económicas de Mogovolas – 2a Rua Bairro Namacarro B, Vila de Nametil Distrito de Mogovolas – Nampula, Moçambique Article History Received: 16.11.2021 Accepted: 22.12.2021 Published: 30.12.2021 Journal homepage: http://www.easpublisher.com Quick Response Code Abstract: The objective of the research was to select short-duration pigeon pea genotypes with high yield, stability and broad genotypic adaptability for northern region of Mozambique using REML/BLUP mixed model. Twelve short-duration genotypes were evaluated in twelve environments from combinations of locations and years: Nampula (2016, 2017 and 2018), Ribáuè (2016), Mogovolas (2016, 2017 and 2018), Namapa (2016, 2017 and 2018) and Montepuéz (2017 and 2018), in a randomized block design with three replications. The genetic parameters were estimated by the mixed model of restricted maximum likelihood (REML) and best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP). The significance of the deviance analysis effects was tested by the likelihood ratio test, considering the χ2 distribution. The selection genotypic strategies were based on the predicted genetic values free of interaction (μ + g), with local interaction (μ + g + ge), mean of environments (μ + g + gem), and harmonic mean of relative performance (MHPRVG). Different genotypic responses were observed for genotypes x locations and genotypes x locations x years interactions. The REML/BLUP mixed model allowed the selection of the short- duration pigeon pea genotypes ICEAP 01107/5, ICEAP 01107/8 and ICEAP 01284, simultaneously for yield, stability and broad genotypic adaptability for northern region of Mozambique. Keywords: Cajanus cajan, G x E interaction, MHPRVG. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s): This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use provided the original author and source are credited. INTRODUCTION Pigeon pea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh] is an important source of protein (20 - 23%) for human consumption and atmospheric nitrogen for soil fertility [1]. This legume is grown in semi-arid regions of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean [2]. It is considered to be native to India [3] and is currently cultivated in many parts of the world, including southern Africa, particularly the region spanning Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi and southern Tanzania [4]. In Mozambique, it plays a greater role in feeding poor families, as fresh and dry grains are sold to generate income for small farmers. The increase in the number of households and the area per household justifies the increase in pigeon pea production, indicating that yield was not identified as a cause [5]. For a long time, only late-maturing local varieties, including medium and long duration improved varieties are dominated the agricultural landscape in Mozambique, however, according to [5] the yield of these cultivars at the level of small farmers varies from 300 – 400 kg ha -1 , which is comparatively low to the world mean yield (kg ha -1 ): 910, from India: 730 [6] and from the neighboring country Malawi: 1102.8 [7]. The low yield can be attributed to the lack of genetically superior cultivars to the effects of biotic and abiotic factors in different environments. The use of short- duration pigeon pea varieties, which are, according to [8], photo-insensitive, productive, adapted to a wide range of altitudes, terminal drought stresses, can be an alternative for increasing yield, however, according to