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Abstract
Understanding differences in grain yield and nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE) between barley and triticale could be useful for designing more sustainable cropping systems. Field experiments were conducted to compare grain yield and dry matter accumulation as well as N accumulation, translocation, and utilization in barley and triticale under Mediterranean conditions with two N fertilization rates (0 and 100 kg ha−1). Overall, across years and N application rates, barley out-yielded triticale by 30% (6943 vs. 5339 kg ha−1). Differences in the grain number per m2 explained most of the variation between species in grain yield, with barley showing higher values than triticale. Barley showed higher early growth resulting in greater N accumulation in anthesis, and eventually in higher translocation to the grain than triticale. When no N was applied, barley showed a mean increase of 15% in NUtE. Triticale showed an advantage in biomass production efficiency in anthesis only in the drier year. From a practical point of view, barley could be a better choice than triticale under low availability of N, not only concerning profitability, but also sustainability. In dry areas, triticale might be a sustainable choice as a silage crop because of better N exploitation for biomass production than barley.