Obtaining optimal wheat cultivars that balance high productivity and grain processing quality in diverse environmental and crop management conditions requires a comprehensive assessment of the influence of genetic and environmental factors and their interactions. This study investigated the influence of these factors on yield, grain quality, and bread-making traits in spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars. The study was conducted at four trial locations in the temperate climate area over two consecutive growing seasons, each with two different crop management approaches (moderate and high input). We observed a strong influence of genotype on grain quality (e.g., protein content, test weight) and farinographic in spring wheat. Environmental factors strongly influenced the variability of dough softening and quality number among the studied rheological traits. However, we observed that crop management significantly impacted dough stability. The strength of the relationships between yield, grain quality, and bread-making traits depended on the specific crop management used. The multi-trait stability of genotypes in yield, grain quality, and bread-making traits also varied, depending on the crop management method.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of long-term crop rotation and fertilization treatments on the yield and yield component stability of spring barley and winter wheat on the basis of selected data over 30 years. The stability was measured using statistical methods (the Shukla stability index and linear mixed models). The long-term field experiments established in 1955 were conducted in central Poland (Chylice near Warsaw, 52°06′ N, 20°33′ E) and consisted of two crop rotations with the same fertilization regime. The first field experiment (A—NOR) is typical of the Norfolk rotation and consists of the following four crops: 1. sugar beet, 2. spring barley with undersown red clover, 3. red clover, and 4. winter wheat, while the second field experiment (B—NONleg) contains a sequence of crops without legumes: 1. sugar beet, 2. spring barley, 3. winter rapeseed, and 4. winter wheat. The following fertilization regimes are used in both experiments: a control without any fertilization (O), mineral fertilization (NPK), farmyard manure (FM), and mixed mineral and organic fertilization (½ NPK + ½ FM). The average yields of winter wheat and spring barley (in t*ha−1) were 4.34 (a max of 5.48 in NONleg_NPK) and 4.27 (a max of 5.67 in NONleg_NPK) in the NONleg rotation treatment and 5.39 (a max of 6.12 in NOR_NPK) and 4.28 (a max of 5.22 in NOR_½ NPK + ½ FM), respectively, in the legume-based NOR rotation treatment. In the legume-free rotation treatment, the highest yield stability was found in the treatments fertilized only with manure (NONleg_FM) and in a mixed manner (NONleg_½NPK + ½FM), while in the Norfolk rotation treatment, the yield stability was the highest in the treatments with mixed fertilization (NOR_½NPK+½FM) and the treatments in which only mineral fertilizers were used (NOR_NPK).