Abstract: Crop models have now been increasingly used to assist plant breeding to define crop ideotypes for different environments. In genetics, the advent of molecular markers enables the dissection of a complex trait into a number of quantitative trait loci (QTL), and assists the transfer of these QTL into desired cultivars or lines. A recent study has shown that QTL information can successfully be coupled to crop models to replace measured parameters. QTL-based modeling has overcomed the limitations in ideotyping of using models that ignore the inheritance of model-input traits. On the other hand, crop modeling can potentially be a powerful tool to resolve the interactions between genotype and environment and overcomes the limitation that QTL mapping cannot extend an experimental result of one environment to another environment condition. An approach that integrates marker-assisted selection into model-based ideotyping framework to support breeding for high crop yield was discussed.

Key words: Crop modeling, Quantitative trait loci, QTL, Genotype-by-environment interatction, G×E, DNA molecular marker, Ideotype breeding