LENTIL (MASOOR) BASIC

Introduction

Lentil is one of the important Rabi pulses. It is one of the oldest pulses crops and the most nutritious of the pulses. It has the potential to cover the risk of dryland agriculture. It is also used as a cover crop to check the soil erosion in problem areas. It is mostly eaten as 'dal’. The removal of the skin and the separation of the fleshy cotyledons first convert the pulse into split pulse or `dal’. These are deep orange red or orange yellow in colour. Whole pulse grain is also used in some of the dishes. It is cooked easily and hence preferred. It is good for patients too. The dry leaves and steins, empty pods and broken bits all are used as cattle feed. Unripe pods are used as a green vegetable, and dry leaves, stalks, husk and broken grain as cattle feed. In the Kashmir Valley, it is also grown for green-manuring paddy.

Area of Cultivation

Lentil is grown throughout northern India, Madhya Pradesh and some parts of Maharashtra. In southern India, it is of very little importance. Its cultivation extends from the warm black soil regions of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to the cold areas of Ladakh in Kashmir at an altitude of over 3,500 metres.

Season

Lentil requires a cold climate. It is sown as a winter season crop. It is very hardy and can tolerate frost and severe winter to a great extent. Its range of cultivation as regards climate is very wide. It can be grown successfully up to a height of 3000 metres. Unlike gram, it remains unaffected by rain at any stage of its growth, including flowering and fruiting. It can be grown with the moisture conserved in the soil during the rainy season. It requires cold temperature during its vegetative growth and warm temperature at the time of maturity. The optimum temperature for growth is 18-30°C

Soil
Lentil crop can be grown on a variety of soils such as light loams and alluvial soils of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and black cotton soils of Madhya Pradesh. This crop is also suited to the poorer types of soils, Low-lying situations such as in paddy fields and even to soils of moderate alkalinity. However, well drained, loam soils with neutral reaction are best for lentil cultivation. Acidic soils are not fit for growing lentils.

Rotation
Lentil is grown generally after the harvest of Kharif crops or as the sole crop of the year. Following are the most common rotations

Kharif fallow-lentil (rainfed areas)
Paddy-lentil
Maize-Lentil
Cotton-lentil
Bajra-lentil
Jowar-lentil
Groundnut-lentil

Lentil is grown mixed with barley, toria, rapeseed and mustard crops. It is also grown as an intercrop in autumn sugarcane. Two lines of lentil may be sown 30 centimetre apart in the center of two sugarcane rows. The distance between sugarcane and lentil rows will also be 30 centimetre.

Cultivation
The soil for the cultivation of lentil should be made friable and weed-free so that seeding could be done at a uniform depth. On heavy soils, one deep ploughing followed by two to three cross harrowings should be given. In the case of light soils less tillage is needed to prepare an ideal seedbed. After harrowing, the field should be leveled by giving a gentle slope to ease irrigation. There should be proper moisture in the soil at the time of sowing for proper germination of seeds.

Sowing

Timely planting is key factor in the full realisation of the yield potential of improved varieties of lentil. Middle of October is the most suitable time for sowing lentil. Delay in planting cause reduction in yield but the magnitude of reduction is large after 15^th November. The reduction in yield could be minimized up to a certain extent by relatively closer spacing and use of higher seed rate. Sowing should be done in rows 30 centimetre apart. This could be done either by using a ferti-seed drill or by seeding behind desi (country) plough. The optimum seed rate for normal sown crop is 30-40 kg per hectare. Seed rate should be increased to 50-60 kg per hectare in case of late sowing. Row spacing should also be reduced to 20-25 centimetre in case of late sown crop. Lentil seeds should be sown at a shallower depth (3-4 centimetre).

Fertilizer and Nutrient Management

Generally lentil is grown without fertilizers and manure. Researches have shown that lentil may not be able to attain maximum growth and yield if they are made to feed on symbiotically fixed nitrogen alone. Even if an effective nodulation is ensured by adequate inoculation, there may be need for some quantity of fertiliser nitrogen to serve as a starter dose for a few weeks of the initial growth. It is even more important in poor and sandy soils. On soils deficient in nitrogen and phosphorus, quite significant responses to application of starter nitrogen (20-25 kg per hectare) and moderate level of phosphorus (50-60 kg per hectare) have been obtained. Soil testing, therefore, becomes important to assess fertility status of the soil. If soil test is not possible, apply 20-30 kg nitrogen, 50-60 kg P2O5 per hectare in medium to low fertile soils as basal dressing. Lentils are often grown in rotation with paddy in late sown conditions. In general, paddy fields are deficient in zinc, therefore, it is advisable to watch the lentil crop for likely zinc deficiency. In initial stages of zinc deficiency, the leaflets start falling off. Spraying a solution of 0.5 per cent zinc sulphate and 0.25 per cent lime at the appearance of early symptoms can rectify the deficiency. On soils where zinc deficiency is well established, about 25 kg zinc sulphate per hectare before final discing of the field should be applied so that zinc sulphate is mixed well in the soil.

Water Management
The crop is mostly grown in unirrigated areas. It can tolerate drought condition to some extent. Comparatively, higher yields can be obtained by providing one to two irrigation, particularly when winter rains are not properly distributed,. First irrigation should be given at 45 days of planting and second, if needed, at pod filling stage. More irrigation may affect the crop performance adversely.

Harvesting

Lentil should be harvested when the pods ripe but the plants have not become dead ripe. The plants should not be allowed to become dead ripe otherwise a large quantity of produce may be lost due to shattering. As such, it would be advantageous to harvest in the morning when dew is there. The produce should be allowed to dry completely on threshing floor before threshing. Threshing is done either by beating the plants with sticks or by trampling under the feet of bullocks. Clean the seed and dry it in sun to bring moisture content down to 12% for safe storage.