Lentil as fodder crops Lentil (masur) a pulse crop, Lens culinaris, of family Leguminosae, has been cultivated since ancient times in Egypt, southern Europe and western Asia. From these areas, it spread northwards to Europe, eastwards to India, and to China. It can be grown on a wide range of soils, from light loams to black cotton soils, and can tolerate moderate alkalinity. Lentil is the most popular pulse crop also used as fodder crop. It constitutes one of the main items in the daily diet of a vast majority of the people of Bangladesh. Other hand it leafy plant used as fodder in many region of the country. It is grown as a winter crop. It cannot tolerate extreme cold or hot climates. This crop has some level of drought tolerance but it is highly susceptible to waterlogging. Economic importance: i. It contains more protein (about 25%) ii. It contains 3-4 times higher minerals than rice. iii. It contains higher amount of vitamins and amino acids. iv. It’s bran is used as feed. v. Increases soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen. Masur is an annual herb, erect in growth, freely branched, and has slender stems. Its height is 25-40 cm. Leaves are pinnate and terminated by a bristle or tendril. Stipules are linear, stipels absent; leaflets are opposite or alternate, in 4-7 pairs, sessile, lanceolate, and about 1.3 cm long. Inflorescence are auxiliary, 1-4 flowered with slender; peduncle. Flowers are small and up to 8 mm long. Pods are oblong, compressed, smooth, broad, rarely more than 1.3 cm long, 1-2 seeded. Seeds are lens-shaped, biconvex, small, and grey to red light in colour. Although it is usually self-fertilized, cross-fertilization can occur. Germination of seeds is hypogeal. Climatic requirement It requires a cold and dry weather. It can tolerate severe winter to great extent. It is a long day plant. However, it has wide adaptability and can be cultivated from plains to an altitude of 3500 m above the sea level. It requires cold temperature during vegetative growth and warm temperature at the time of maturity. Optimum temperature regime for growth and development is 15-200C. However, low temperatures less than 100C delays germination with reduced vegetative growth. It can come up well on stored soil moisture in regions with annual rainfall of 350-500 mm. Soil: Lentil can be cultivated on any soil from sandy loam to heavy soils, provided adequate drainage. It can tolerate moderate acidity and alkalinity and can come up on soils with pH between 4.5 and 8.2. The crop does not tolerate waterlogging. Lentil is relegated to marginal lands as it can establish well with minimum tillage. Land preparation: Land should be well prepared with 2-3 ploughings and ladderings. When it is grown as relay crop in a standing crop like T. aman or B. aman no ploughing is done. Variety: BARI masur-1 (Utfala), BARI masur-2 (Sindhu), BARI masur-3 (Falgooni), BARI masur-4 (Surma), BARI masur-5, BARI masur-6, BARI masur-7, BINA masur-2, BINA masur-3 and BINA masur-4. Time of sowing: Optimum sowing time of lentil varies from end of October to 10 November. Yield of lentil will be reduced beyond 10 November sowing but it can be sown up to end of November. Beyond 10 November, seed yield decreases gradually, seed yield decreases gradually. Seed rate: For bold seeded variety 35-40 kg seed ha-1 would be sown while for small seeded variety seed rate will be 30-35 kg ha-1. In case of relay sowing seed rate will be 45-50 kg ha-1. Method of sowing: Generally seeds are sown in broadcast method. Line sowing enhances seed yield of lentil. In case of line sowing 25-30 cm distance should be maintained between the lines. Seed should be sown continuously in line. Weeding: First weeding would be done within 20-25 days of sowing while second weeding is necessary within 40-45 days of sowing for obtaining higher yield. Fertilizer application: Urea 40-50 kg ha-1, TSP 80-90 kg ha-1, MoP 30-40 kg ha-1 and boric acid 10 kg ha-1. All fertilizers should be applied at the time of final land preparation. Irrigation: It is a dry land crop and is mostly grown under rainfed conditions on conserved soil moisture. If the soil is sandy and there exists scarcity of water then 1-2 light irrigation may be applied (1st at 45 DAS and 2nd at pod filling stage). For heavy soil, no irrigation is needed. Waterlog condition should always be avoided. Disease and insect management Foot and root disease and wilting of seedling are common in lentil. Excess soil moisture usually enhances infestation of these diseases in lentil. Proper seed treatment with Provex-200 can reduce these diseases to some extent. Stemphylium is another serious disease of lentil and the disease becomes severe under favourable condition with foggy weather and high RH(%). Spraying of ‘Rovral’ a fungicide can control this disease. Lentil can be infested by aphid. Spraying of ‘Malathion’ can control aphid successfully. Pod borer is another insect pest which can attack the crop at pod filling stage. Pod borer can be controlled by spraying the insecticides like ‘Karate’ and ‘Ripcord’. Crop duration: It takes about 110-115 days for maturity.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 04:05:40 +0000