Plant Architecture

Plant architecture refers to the three-dimensional arrangement of a plant’s organs. It serves as a traditional criterion for classifying plant species and significantly influences the adaptability and productivity of crop plants. This chapter commences by exploring the regulatory mechanisms that govern plant architecture, placing specific emphasis on the hormonal and genetic regulation of plant height, branching patterns, leaf and tiller angles, inflorescence structure, and growth habit, predominantly in cereal crops. Subsequently, it elucidates the concept and principles of ideotype along with some examples from wheat and rice. Finally, it explores the potential of cutting-edge genome editing technologies to revolutionize ideotype breeding and outlines future directions from the perspective of biotechnology–information technology (BIT) integration.