In the years 2001-2003 in field trials we studied the effects of the conditions of year, fore-crops (winter wheat, sugarbeet, grain maize) and optimalization of the nutritional status on the yield and crude protein content in the grain of spring barley. From the analysis of the plants we can see that dry matter production and nutrient concentration in the plants were influenced by the conditions of the year and the fore-crop. After sugar beet, the growth of the dry matter was intensive and the concentrations of nutrients per one plant were higher as early as in the initial stages of vegetation. The yields in the years 2001 and 2002 corresponded with these results while the highest yields were seen after the sugar beet. Due to the extreme lack of precipitation, the best fore-crop in 2003 was maize. While the dose of 50 kg N/ha increased the yields after maize, after wheat it reduced the yields and increased the crude protein content in the grain.