Abstract

The philosophy of conventional plant breeding approach is to select for yield which bases selection on yield without giving consideration to how and why yield is achieved. The ideotype concept has been developed and modified for a number of different crops. It is concluded that ideotypes are a useful tool for visualizing and conceptualizing how to combine specific rare combinations of visible and invisible traits, aimed at the maximization of Harvest Index, even when the traits are only weakly related.

Most breeding programs uses grain yield as the main selection criterium to improve the agronomic performance of crop varieties. An alternative approach to improve productivity is the ideotype breeding. According to this philosophy, breeders should define an ideal plant type for a specific environment and then breed for this ideotype. Breeding through crop ideotypes is positive in terms of integrating principies of physiology, ecology and plant breeding, encoraging the generation of hypothesis about how yield is achieved and providing a holistic view about production systems.