Nitrogen use in winter-type malting barley

In the last three decades, N fertilizer consumption has not changed both in western Europe and in the USA, whereas N use efficiency decreased for cereals. In Italy about 6-7 percent of domestic barley production is processed by national malsters; malting crops require a well-tuned nitrogen management due to the trade-off between yield and technological quality of the grains. Results about grain yield and N use of winter-type malting barley crop grown on a superficial soil (Chromi-Skeletic Cambisol; FAO 1998) are presented here.