Farmers are well-known for their lentil cultivation. It is classified as a protein-rich pulse crop. People mostly eat it as Dall, which is made by separating it into two cotyledons. This crop is orange-red or orange-yellow in colour. In many dishes, they use it without breaking it into two cotyledons. This crop is a good source of starch, which can be helpful in textiles and printing. For bread and cake production, we must combine it with wheat flour. Furthermore, India is the world’s largest producer of lentil crops.
Lentil Cultivation in India: How to Grow Lentils
As we all know, Lentil is a useful crop that is consumed in many countries around the world. And India is the world’s leading producer of lentils. So you can do it for a profit as well. However, in order to increase production, you should consider some crop tips and requirements when growing this crop.
Climate Prerequisites
Lentil cultivation is typically done at temperatures ranging from 18°C to 20°C. However, when sowing, you should keep the temperature between 18°C and 20°C in order to achieve maximum yield. In order for crops to grow appropriately, rainfall must total 100 cm. After that, you must monitor the harvesting temperature, which should be between 22°C and 24°C. So, with this, you can get a healthy yield.
Soil Prerequisites
Lentil crops can be grown in any soil type except saline, alkaline, or waterlogged soils. We must keep the soil friable and weed-free in order to plant the seeds at a uniform depth. As a result, you don’t need to worry about the soil for this farming.
Favourite Varieties
Lentils come in a variety of popular varieties in India. We’ve arrived with some of them and their yield.
- L 4632
- LL 699 – 5 QTL/acre
- Bombay 18 – 4 – 4.8 QTL/acre
- LL 931 – 4.8 QTL/acre
- DPL 15 – 5.6 – 6.4 QTL/acre
- K 75 – 5.6 – 6.4 QTL/acre
- DPL 62 – 6 – 8 QTL/acre
- Pusa 4076 – 10 – 11QTL/acre
This pulse crop has a high production rate. Choose which variety you want to grow.
Preparation of Land
In the case of light soil, we must do less soil manipulation or tillage to prepare seedbeds. In the case of hard ground, we should perform one deep ploughing followed by three to four harrow operations. Then, for proper land pulverisation, we should plough the field two to three times. Following that, we should level the land so that the water can be adequately distributed. Finally, the moisture level in the field must be adequate during sowing. For ploughing and harrowing, we should use affordable tractor models such as the Swaraj 963 tractor and others.
Sowing
For better crop production, we should sow the seeds from mid-October to the first week of November. The seeds should be sown evenly at 22 cm intervals. If you are late in sowing the seeds, the space can be increased to 20 cm. Furthermore, a depth of 3 to 4 cm is appropriate for sowing. With the help of quality tractors such as the New Holland 3230 tractor and others, you can use the Pora method or seed cum fertiliser drill.
Irrigation
It is a rainfed crop that requires 2 to 3 irrigations if irrigated, depending on climate conditions. After 4 weeks of sowing, you must rinse the field once. Then, during the flowering stage, you must irrigate. Watering is essential during the flowering and pod formation stages.
Plant Defense
Many pests and diseases can wreak havoc on plants, from growth to fruiting. So you’ll have to do some treatments to figure this out. Let us know which diseases and pests are harmful to this farming.
Pod borer pest: This pest is extremely damaging to lentil crops. Spray 900 gm Hexavin 50WP in 90 litres of water per acre to treat it. It must be sprayed during the flowering period and repeated after 3 weeks if necessary.
Rust disease is a plant-killing disease that can harm lentil crops. To control it, spray 400 gm M-45 in 200 ltr water/acre.
Blight Disease: It has the potential to reduce yield. It can be controlled by spraying 400 gm Bavistin in 200 litres of water per acre.
Harvesting
It is the proper time to reap when the plants have dried, and the pods have matured. We should avoid overripening the pods because they may shatter. Instead, we can reap the plants by beating them with a stick. Next, clean the seeds and dry them in the sun. The temperature should be 12 per cent during storage.
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