AbstractBreeding for ideotype in field crops plays a crucial role in optimizing yield potential and resource allocation. While self-pollinated cereals have achieved significant yield improvements through enhanced input responsiveness, grain legumes have lagged in comparable genetic advancements. Cereals exhibit greater receptivity to increased inputs, such as nitrogen fertilization, leading to enhanced cultivar performance. Grain legumes, however, remain an essential dietary component, providing micronutrients often lacking in modern cereal varieties. Breeding efforts across diverse agro-ecological conditions aim to enhance yield potential, improve quality traits, and minimize post-harvest losses. Key constraints, such as plant lodging and pod dehiscence, are critical in both cereals and legumes, with pod distribution being a unique challenge in legumes. Advances in breeding have led to improved adaptability, higher resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and cultivars with better operational ease. The selection of an optimal breeding strategy depends on the target environment, trait inheritance patterns, and cultivation conditions, ensuring sustainable crop improvement.
Lone et al. (Wed,) studied this question.