Adapting breeding goals to greenhouse technological contexts for sustainable vegetable production

Protected cultivation performs a central undertaking in safeguarding year-round vegetable production, providing controlled environments which shelter crops against climatic extremes. Nevertheless, greenhouse systems diverge extensively in technological complexity, from low-tech passive tunnels to fully automated, high-input structures. This review integrates contemporary knowledge on how tomato, cucumber, and sweet pepper breeding agendas are being customized to the specific demands of greenhouse technological level. In low-tech systems, prominence is positioned on early maturity, abiotic stress tolerance, and disease resistance under minimal input environments. Mid-tech greenhouses demand cultivars with enhanced shelf life, grafting compatibility, and steady performance under semi-controlled conditions. High-tech systems necessitate ideotypes optimized for artificial lighting, CO₂ enrichment, soilless media, and intensive production cycles. Crucial holistic issues such as genotype by environment by management interactions, genomic selection, gene editing, participatory breeding, and sustainability-oriented traits are considered. The review underscores the imperative necessity for climate-resilient, resource-efficient cultivars and emphasizes the significance of cooperation between breeders, cultivators, and technology developers. By aligning breeding routes with greenhouse typologies and environmental restraints, the horticultural industry can evolve on the path to a more resilient, productive, and sustainable future.