Assessing yield gap in high productive countries by designing wheat ideotypes

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Crop Physiology
• Computational Biology

Background:

• Designing crop ideotypes in silico offers a powerful approach to assess crop yield potential and identify yield gaps.
• The yield gap is defined as the difference between an optimized crop ideotype's yield potential and an existing cultivar's yield under optimal management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate the yield gap for wheat in the United Kingdom (UK) and New Zealand (NZ) under current climatic conditions.
• To design wheat ideotypes optimized for both water-limited and irrigated environments.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Sirius crop model to design wheat ideotypes.
• Simulated ideotype performance under water-limited and irrigated conditions in the UK and NZ.
• Quantified yield potential and yield gap based on simulation results.

Main Results:

• Achieved mean ideotype yields of 15.0-19.0 t ha⁻¹ (water-limited) and 15.6-19.5 t ha⁻¹ (irrigated).
• Identified substantial yield gaps of 28-31% (water-limited) and 30-32% (irrigated) in both countries.
• Observed greater yield potential and yield gap in NZ (25-27% and 32-38%, respectively) compared to the UK.

Conclusions:

• Significant yield gaps persist in high-productivity wheat-growing regions like the UK and NZ, despite breeding advancements.
• Wheat ideotype design provides a generic framework applicable globally for yield gap estimation.
• Identifying key traits through ideotype design can accelerate breeding programs and facilitate yield gap closure.