Genotype-environment interaction and yield stability of five <i>Vigna radiata</i> genotypes under contrasting agrivoltaics environments in a tropical dry season climate

Abstract Background: The push for net-zero CO 2 emission in the energy sector by 2030 has led to massive investments in clean energy sources in several countries. One such investment is in photovoltaics which are substances that convert solar energy into electricity. Due to the large land requirement for the installation of photovoltaic plants, a significant portion of agricultural lands have been converted to photovoltaic facilities in recent times. Land use conflicts between food and energy production are becoming an increasing concern that needs addressing. Agrivoltaics presents an opportunity to integrate crops underneath photovoltaic panels sustainably. The objective of this study was to select genotypes with superior yield advantage and greater stability underneath the APV system. Methods: Five mungbean genotypes, Tvr18, Tvr28, Tvr65, Tvr79, and Tvr 83 were assessed under contrasting APV microenvironments, WPV, EPV and NPV at the National Center for Energy Research, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The experiment was a split-plot design with APV as the whole-plot factor while genotype was the sub-plot factor with five replications. Results: The additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis showed significant genotype, environment, GxE, IPCA1, and IPCA2 effects ( p &lt; 0.05) for seed weight. Two genotypes, Tvr28 (9.92 g) and Tvr83 (9.58 g) recorded higher seed weights across environments. The EPV environment recorded higher seed weight per plant (10.51 g) than NPV (7.58 g) and WPV (5.44 g) environments, respectively. Tvr18 and Tvr65 were the most unstable genotypes across the APV-environments with higher IPCA1 (−1.75 and 1.30, respectively) and ASV (4.02 and 3.00, respectively) scores in contrast to Tvr83 and Tvr28 with the least IPCA1 (0.19 and 0.09) and ASV (1.23 and 1.18, respectively) scores. Hence, Tvr83 and Tvr28 were more stable across the APV microenvironments and were the best in seed yield.