Response of dual‐purpose winter wheat yield and its components to sowing date and cutting timing in a semiarid region of China.

Dual‐purpose winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) has been advocated on the Loess Plateau of China to fill feed gap and integrate crop–livestock systems; however, the effects of sowing date on the recovery after cutting and interactions between various management practices are largely unclear. Field experiment was conducted in 2015–2017 in semiarid northwestern China to investigate the effects of sowing date and cutting timing on forage yield, grain yield, and its components of dual‐purpose winter wheat cultivars. The experiment combined four cutting treatments, that is, winter cutting, spring cutting, winter–spring cutting, and control, two sowing dates (22 Sept., 2 Oct.), and two cultivars (early to mid‐maturing Zhongmai and late‐maturing Longyu4). Results showed delayed sowing decreased forage yield by 33.4%, but still had the potential to produce an average of 1.6 t ha−1 of forage, with average protein content of 290 g kg−1. Response of winter wheat grain yield to cutting ranged from −38.9 to 1%, with a delay of 1–7 d in maturity. Delayed sowing induced insignificant yield penalties. More forage and higher kernel protein content were produced if crops were cut in winter–spring, but this came with large reductions (30.1% in Longyu4 and 38.9% in Zhongmai) in grain yield, mainly due to reductions in kernels per spike and kernel weight. This study suggests that Longyu4 and Zhongmai are suitable varieties for dual‐purpose winter wheat in the Loess Plateau. For higher forage and grain yield, Longyu4 is suitable for sowing in middle or late September, whereas Zhongmai is suitable for delaying sowing. Winter cutting or spring cutting is acceptable to maintain the forage and grain yield, whereas winter–spring cutting is disadvantageous to grain yield in our study area. Core Idea: Delayed sowing had the potential to produce an average of 1.6 t ha−1 of forage.Delayed sowing induced insignificant yield penalties.Response of winter wheat grain yield to cutting ranged from −38.9 to 1%.Reductions in grain yield were greatest with winter–spring cutting.Grain yield was unaffected by the interaction between sowing date and variety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]