Wheat, Barley, and Triticale Response to Nitrogen Fertilization in Pannonian Environment

Small-grain producers in the southern Pannonian Plain prefer winter barley production in poor soils and drought-prone areas, assuming higher resource use efficiency in barley than in wheat. Similarly, triticale is known to perform well in low-fertility soils and dry environments. However, information about the comparative performance of these crops within the same trials is less available for the Pannonian environment. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency traits of winter wheat, triticale, and two-rowed and six-rowed barley cultivars across different N applications in different growing seasons and locations in the Pannonian Plain. The study was conducted over two seasons at three locations (Novi Sad, Sremska Mitrovica, and Sombor) using a split-plot design. Treatments consisted of winter wheat, triticale, and two-rowed and six-rowed barley under three nitrogen fertilization levels of low, moderate, and high. Averaged across species, the reduction in grain yield in 0 N compared to 100 N was 1218 kg ha−1 (15.7%) in wheat, 1037 kg ha−1 (11.6%) in triticale, 1128 kg ha−1 (13.7) in two-rowed barley, and 1340 kg ha−1 (17.1%) in six-rowed barley. Grain yield was closely related to nitrogen uptake, showing a relationship (R2) from 0.652 in triticale to 0.956 in six-rowed barley. Nitrogen use efficiency showed a positive relationship with nitrogen uptake efficiency, while the relationship with nitrogen utilization efficiency was insignificant. There was a notable difference between crops in terms of grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency traits. Notably, two-rowed barley outperformed wheat in terms of grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency, while wheat outperformed six-rowed barley. Triticale showed the highest yield among all the studied cereal crops, attributed to increased nitrogen use efficiency and uptake, especially under low fertilization conditions.