BACKGROUND: Cereals are the main crops in rotation following sugar beet harvest. However, a delay in planting winter cereals as a result of late sugar beet harvest is a disadvantage in sugar beet/cereal rotations. In this study, field trials were carried out to investigate the effects of sowing and harvesting dates on the yield and quality of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) and cereals (wheat, Triticum aestivum L., and six-rowed barley, Hordeum vulgare L.) during two consecutive years. Beet was sown on three dates and harvested on four dates, followed by cereals which were sown on four dates. Root yield and digestion ratio (sugar beet) and grain yield, 1000-kernel weight, test weight and protein content (wheat and barley) were determined.