Spring cereals: from dynamic ideotypes to cultivars in Northern latitudes

Summary

The ideotype of a crop is a model of a plant community where all necessary and beneficial traits for crop performance in a particular environment are combined. It is important to consider the environment when developing an ideotype since climatic, edaphic and agronomic features of the target region have a major role in determining crop performance. New technologies, high yielding cultivars, irrigation and water management, plant protection materials and more skilful farm management practices have increased yields and yield potentials on cereals in Finland as in many other countries. In this paper we aim to summarize traits which would be useful from the farmers’ perspective. The most important trait is increased early vigour of spring cereals, including faster rate of early development and increased leaf area to improve both the resource capture of the canopy and water use efficiency. Introduction of dwarfing genes would improve lodging resistance and harvest index due to improved partitioning of dry matter into grains whereas longer coleoptiles would improve emergence and seedling establishment. Improved ability of crops to utilize stem reserves during grain filling would increase resistance against environmental stresses. All of these traits would also increase the competitive ability of the plant against weeds as well as competition within the crop canopy and are already available from non-adapted germplasm of the various spring cereal species.