Abstract: The demand for animal proteins is growing rapidly with the improvement of living standards and the associated change in food consumption patterns. However, expansion of animal husbandry enterprises is greatly limited by a shortage of high-quality forage. Forage wheat has high yield and nutritive value. Therefore, research on forage wheat has high relevance. In this paper, the current status and development trends in domestic and foreign research on forage wheat are reviewed. The findings on production and utilization of forage are summarized under four headings: 1) Variety breeding: Germplasm creation technology, molecular breeding for stress tolerance and screening of conventional forage wheat varieties. 2) Cultivation management: Conventional field, grazing utilization and dual-purpose wheat managements. 3) Suitability for silage production: cultivation management, growth period, additives and other factors. 4) Animal feed considerations: Feed intake, digestibility, yield and quality of livestock products. Furthermore, the problems and shortcomings in various research fields relating to forage wheat are summarized, and the emerging development trends and research foci in the present context are explored. This review provides guidance and ideas for future studies on the production and popularization of forage wheat in China. At present, the ongoing development of forage wheat as a crop mainly revolves around problems such as grain surplus, contradiction between forage supply and animal feed requirement, and animal production performance. Forage wheat has high feeding value. In winter, when forage is scarce, wheat has potential to alleviate the industry forage supply issues, and provide a reliable feed supply to foster expansion of animal husbandry. However, grain wheat varieties generally have a low plant height and their whole-plant yield is limited. In order to better utilize the feeding value of forage wheat, it is imperative to cultivate varieties of wheat specifically designed for forage use.

Key words: forage wheat, breeding, silage, grazing, animal production performance