Lentil

Economic importance

Lentil grain is used in the food industry for making protein preparations, sausages, canned goods, and confectionery products (some types of chocolate, sweets, cookies). The seeds are distinguished by high taste qualities. They are eaten fresh and canned. Protein content is 24–30%; in cookability they surpass peas, chickpeas, and beans; fat — 1.4%, carbohydrates — 52%, mineral substances — 3.2%.

For food purposes, large-seeded forms of lentil are mainly used; for feed purposes, small-seeded forms.

For feed purposes, straw and chaff of lentil are used. Protein content in straw is up to 14–15%; in nutritional value it corresponds to good meadow hay; in chaff — up to 18–20%, which surpasses oats grain and rye bran. 1 kg of lentil chaff contains 0.56 feed units. Ground seeds are also used as feed; they are a good concentrated feed for all farm animals.

History of cultivation

Lentil is one of the oldest cultivated plants, introduced into cultivation more than 4000 years ago. It was widely used for food in Ancient Egypt, India, and Arab states; it was known as a cultivated plant in ancient Rome and Greece.

P. M. Zhukovsky believes that cultivated lentil originates from the regions of the Himalayas and Hindu Kush. Also, the place of origin is named as the Mediterranean for large-seeded lentil, and Iran and Afghanistan for small-seeded lentil.

Since the 14th century, lentil has been known in Russia.

Cultivation areas

The area sown to lentil in the world is approximately 3.4 million ha, or 2.1% of the area sown to grain legumes. Gross seed harvest is 2.9 million t, or 1.3% of the total harvest of grain legumes, with an average yield of 0.8 t/ha.

Large-seeded forms are cultivated in the countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Egypt, Spain, Romania, Czechia, Slovakia, and Chile are considered major producers. Small-seeded forms are widespread in South-West and Central Asia.

In the USSR, it occupied about 15 thousand ha. In Russia, official statistics on lentil production are not kept. It is assumed that the sown area is 10–15 thousand ha, or 1% of the area of grain legumes; gross harvest is 15 thousand t (0.8%), with an average yield of 1.3 t/ha.

In Russia, the main cultivation regions are the Volga region (90% of sowings) and the Central Black Earth zone (9%). Small sown areas exist in Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Mordovia, and Western Siberia, as well as in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Yield

The average seed yield of lentil is about 1.3 t/ha. Under favorable conditions, the yield is 2.0–2.5 t/ha.

The highest seed yields were obtained in Kirovohrad Oblast (Ukraine) at the Ulyanovsk State Variety Testing Plot, where they reached 3.4 t/ha.

Botanical description

Lentil is an annual, relatively short-growing plant.

The root is taproot.

The stem is thin, four-angled, grooved, branching, and prone to lodging.

The leaves are even-pinnate and end in tendrils.

The flowers are small, white or bluish. They are arranged singly or 1–4 in the leaf axils. Self-pollination predominates.

The pods are short, flat, rhombic, contain 1–3 seeds, are prone to shattering when ripe, and drop when plants are left standing too long.

The seeds are lens-shaped, 3 to 9 mm in size.

Commercial quality requirements:

• the proportion of seeds 6 mm in diameter must be at least 95%;
• uniformity of green color, without speckling and dark rim;
• uniformity in color and size; impurities are not allowed.

Varieties

Lentil (Lens culinaris, syn. Ervum lens L. and Lens esculenta Moench), or common lentil, or cultivated lentil, is divided into:

• large-seeded, or plate lentil;
• small-seeded.

Large-seeded lentil (ssp. macrosperma Bar.) is characterized by greater plant height, up to 40–70 cm, oval leaves, large pods, and large flat green, spotted seeds 6–9 mm in size and yellow cotyledons. The growing season is 80–120 days. The weight of 1000 seeds is 55–65 g.

Small-seeded lentil (ssp. microsperma) is distinguished by lower-growing plants, up to 15–50 cm, with small elongated leaves, small pods, small convex seeds 2–6 mm in size of various colors, and orange cotyledons. The growing season is 65–70 days; it is more drought-resistant. The weight of 1000 seeds is 25–30 g.

Biological characteristics

Growth and development

Growth phases:

• emergence;
• flowering;
• pod formation;
• ripening.

At the beginning of the growing season, lentil grows slowly; growth accelerates with the onset of flowering. The acceleration of growth is associated with strong branching of plants. When the soil is moist and warm, seedlings emerge after 8–12 days.

Due to the short plant height and slow growth in the initial growing period, it is especially sensitive to field weed infestation.

Flowering begins 40–45 days after emergence. The flowering phase is prolonged in rainy and cloudy weather, which leads to uneven ripening of pods. Ripening begins with the lower pods; this is especially pronounced in wet years.

Crop rotation

In crop rotation, lentil is usually placed after fertilized winter cereals, buckwheat, potatoes, sunflower, maize, and sugar beet.

Like other grain legumes, it does not tolerate repeated sowing; it is returned to its previous place in crop rotation no earlier than after 5–6 years, since it is damaged by nematode.

In crop rotation, lentil serves as a good predecessor for many crops, especially spring cereals and maize, but is less suitable for winter crops than peas, except for early-ripening varieties.

Fertilization

Large doses of mineral and organic fertilizers can lead to excessive growth of aboveground mass at the expense of pod yield and uneven ripening. For this reason, it is not recommended to apply manure and other organic fertilizers to it. Organic fertilizers are applied to the predecessor crop or two years before sowing it.

Nitrogen fertilizers can be applied only to provide plant nutrition at the beginning of growth and development before nodules form on the roots.

Acidic soils are limed by applying lime fertilizers during cultivation.

Under fall plowing, phosphorus-potassium fertilizers P_40-60K_30-40 are applied. Band application of phosphorus fertilizers at sowing is effective.

Tillage

Tillage is similar to tillage for peas and other early crops.

Weed control is of great importance. This is achieved by early stubble disking, deep fall plowing, and, where possible, semi-fallow soil treatment.

Sowing

Crop care

For uniform and faster emergence, post-sowing rolling is carried out using ring-spur rollers.

A specific weed of lentil crops is flat-seeded vetch. It greatly worsens the food and taste qualities of lentil. When crops are infested with it, manual weeding is carried out 3–4 weeks after sowing and during the flowering phase of vetch, when red-violet flowers form on it (they help easily distinguish the weed from lentil).

Pest control preparations

Against pests typical of grain legumes (bean moth, pea weevil, pea moth, aphids), spraying with Rogors-S is carried out during the growing season.

Harvesting

For harvesting tall-stemmed lentil varieties and when crops are heavily infested with weeds, a two-phase method is used. Mowing into swaths begins when about 50% of the pods are ripe. A slight delay in starting harvest leads to loss of the lower, most valuable pods and to browning of the seeds, while greenish-colored seeds are the valuable ones. Lentil dries quickly; threshing begins after 1–2 days. Delay in threshing also leads to browning of the seeds and loss of their commercial qualities.

For harvesting short-stemmed lentil varieties, a single-phase method is used. Harvesting begins when 85–90% of the pods are ripe.

In both methods, harvesting is done at a low cut in a short time. When swaths are moistened during drying, seed quality drops sharply; therefore, the single-phase harvesting method is preferable.

Varieties

Large-seeded varieties.

Petrovskaya 4/105. Crops of this variety occupy 93% of varietal sowings. Bred by the Petrovskaya Breeding and Experimental Station (Professor V. R. Gulyaev) from local lentil. Zoned in the Central Black Earth zone, Volga-Kama forest-steppe, South-East of Russia, also in Ukraine and Armenia.

Petrovskaya 6.

Dneprovskaya 3. Mid-season variety, good yield. Zoned in the Volga region, also in Ukraine.

Penzenskaya 14. The variety is zoned in Penza and Tambov oblasts.

Novaya Luna.

Okula.

Petrovskaya Zelenozernaya.

Krasnogradskaya 250.

Vekhovskaya.

List of sources

1. Vavilov P. P., Gritsenko V. V., Kuznetsov V. S. et al. (1986). Crop Production. Edited by Vavilov P. P. 5th ed., revised and expanded. Moscow: Agropromizdat.
2. Kolomeichenko V. V. (2007). Crop Production/Textbook. Moscow: Agrobiznestsentr.
3. Niklyaev V. S. (2000). Fundamentals of Agricultural Production Technology. Agriculture and Crop Production. Moscow: Bylina.