hough they contribute less total nitrogen to the soil through fixation than faba bean, field pea or lupin crops, being more similar to chickpea. Grass-free lentil crops provide an effective break from cereal root disease, including take-all, cereal cyst nematode (CCN) and rhizoctonia. Lentil crops are susceptible to some seed or stubble-borne diseases, including ascochyta blight and botrytis grey mould.
Lentil plants do not compete strongly with weeds but there are crop production practices and weed control options available to ensure effective weed control. To avoid seed contamination at harvest, do not sow lentil into paddocks with a history of vetch. Other pulses are more easily cleaned from lentil seed. Cereal grains are not easily cleaned from lentil grain so self-sown cereals must be removed from lentil crops using grass herbicides.
Like other broadleaf crops, most lentil varieties are particularly sensitive to soil carryover residues of Group B herbicides such as sulfonylurea (SU) and imidazolinone (IMI) and Group I herbicides such as clopyralid and picloram. Not all labels include lentil in the plant-back details, so extra caution and advice from the manufacturer or your advisor is recommended after using these herbicides. The recently released varieties PBA Hurricane XT and PBA Herald XT varieties show less sensitivity to sulfonylurea and imidazolinone (Group B) herbicide carryover residues from previous crop applications.
Both PBA Hurricane XT and PBA Herald XT have herbicidal tolerance to imazethapyr when applied pre or post-emergence as per APVMA PER14369. They also have improved tolerance to flumetsulam when applied in-crop. In conventional lentil varieties flumetsulam applied according to label directions may cause height reduction, crop discolouration, delayed flowering and yield loss. When flumetsulam is applied to PBA Herald XT or PBA Hurricane XT according to label directions the risk of crop damage and yield loss is minimised.
Weed control options and rotation safety is therefore improved for lentil, but only for these two varieties. Growers must adhere to permits, product label rates, plant-back periods and all label directions for use
Regardless of the reason why lentil is incorporated into a cropping system, it is recommended that growers follow the recommendations provided in this guide wherever possible to optimise the crop’s performance.
Keys to successful production
- Select paddocks for lentil carefully. Choose free draining soil with pH around neutral to alkaline, with minimal sodicity, salinity and boron toxicity. Herbicide residues need to be considered, as well as likely weed presence and the weed control options available.
- Lentil requires adequate moisture to grow tall enough to be harvestable. Sowing systems that retain stubble help to reduce evaporation losses from the soil. Inter-row sowing into standing cereal stubble helps lentil plants to grow tall and erect, making harvest more efficient.
- Variety choice needs to match the maturity, disease resistance, sowing time and farming system used. Keep the market type, end user and delivery point in mind when selecting varieties. Consider forward contracts if on-farm storage is not available.
- Always use quality seed and do not sow too shallow or deep (5–8 cm sowing depth is recommended).
- Sowing on time (late April–May) is important to maximise yields in drier situations.
- In wetter situations in southern Australia, lentil can be sown much later (to mid spring) without significantly affecting yield. Increase the sowing rate if sowing is very late.
- Use a sowing rate that is likely to achieve a plant density of 120 plants/m2 (approximately 50–60 kg seed/ha).
- Inoculate with group E rhizobia and supply adequate nutrition (fertiliser).
- Manage pests and weeds during the crop’s establishment and early growth. Monitor crops regularly for pests.
- Control foliar diseases through careful paddock selection (avoiding recent pathogen inoculum), crop canopy management and strategic fungicide applications as required.
- High humidity and exces