What are lentils? The lentil (Lens culinaris medik ), one of the oldest cultivated crops, was first grown in southwest Asia, in southern Turkey and northern Iraq. The word lentil comes form the Latin word lens, and which describes the shape of the seed. There are two types of lentil: The Chilean or large-seeded (100 seed weight of about 7 g) and the Persian or small-seeded (100 seed weight of about 4 g). The lentil has a very high protein content (22%) and as a human food, cooks very fast. Why grow lentil? The primary use of lentil is for human food; largely as a protein source in soups, stews and in vegetarian dishes. In some areas, such as the Middle East, lentil crop residues are highly as livestock feed. Most lentil seeds are consumed in the same nation in which they are produced, except for Turkey and North America. However, there is an increasing export trade in lentil. Canada is now the second largest lentil exporting country. In addition, the small domestic market for lentil in Canada is gradually increasing. Even so, the farmer is advised to obtain a contract for marketing his lentil crop. Where are lentils produced? India is the leading lentil-producing nation, accounting for over half the world's supply, but most of their production is consumed domestically. Commercial production of lentil in North America first started in 1937 in the Palouse area of eastern Washington and northern Idaho. This area currently produces lentil on 40,000 to 50,000 ha per year. Being a cool season crop, most of the Canadian lentil crop is produced in Saskatchewan, but Manitoba and Alberta also produce lentil crops. It is adapted to growing conditions in the Dark Brown and the southern edge of the Black soil zone in south to central Saskatchewan. How much is produced? Lentils were first grown commercially in Canada in 1969. Field scale production of lentil in western Canada began in 1970 when 600 ha were grown in the Eatonia district of west-central Saskatchewan. Production increased to a high of 6,000 ha in 1972, decreased to about 400 ha in 1975 and 1976, and increased to about 240,000 ha in 1987. A record 975,000 acres were grown in Canada in 1994. Acreage of lentils in Saskatchewan in 1995 was 800,000 and it is predicted that in 2000, this number will be over 850,000. The average yield of Saskatchewan crops has been about 1000 kg/ha. What does it look like? The lentil plant is a light green, leafy annual. It grows similar to that of the pea, but with a slender stem with many branches and smaller, numerous slender leaves. The plant is short, ranging in height from 15 to 75 cm depending on the environment. Small, white flowers are produced throughout the growing season. Small pods form on the bottom of the plant, while flowering continues on the top. Lentil seeds are lens-shaped and their coat color may vary from light green to deep purple, tan, brown or black. Cotyledon color may be yellow, red or green. Lentil seeds are mature when the seed cotyledons and pods start turning yellow. The predominant type grown in western Canada is Chilean (large-seeded) with yellow cotyledons. There are several varieties of lentils. Until 1980 most of the Canadian lentil crop was seeded to the unregistered Chilean type. Since then, most of the Saskatchewan production has switched to the variety Laird. Laird is an extra-large-seeded (Chilean-type) variety and is later maturing (must be seeded early). It produces a tall (for lentil), upright plant that facilitates swathing. Laird has an intermediate level of resistance to ascochyta blight. A second variety is Eston, a small-seeded (Persian-type) lentil. It is short and early maturing. However, it has a short, bushy growth habit, making it fairly easy to swath, unless it is hail damaged or drought stressed. Eston is susceptible to ascochyta blight. How is it produced? The lentil is best adapted to the cooler temperate zones of the world. It is a cool season crop with a restricted root system and is only moderately resistant to high temperature and drought. It is best adapted to the Dark Brown soil zone, but can be grown in the southern part of the Black soil zone if seeded early. Excellent lentil crops have also been grown in the Brown soil zone when seeded on fallow. The lentil is sometimes used to extend crop rotation; crops following lentil in the rotation generally yield higher than crops grown after cereals or flax. grows best on firm, weed-free seed beds on well-drained, high fertility soils. is seeded as early in the spring as possible, Before May 15 and not after May 25) provided the temperature of the surface 3 cm of soil is above 5 degrees C and the soil is not excessively wet. seedlings can withstand considerable frost. Even if the frost is severe enough to kill the main shoot, the lentil plant will initiate regrowth from axillary buds at one of the nodes at or below the soil surface. plant continues flowering and setting seed until growth is terminated by some factor of the environment such as drought, heat stress, frost or nitrogen deficiency. may be grown successfully on stubble land in the moister parts of the Dark Brown soil zone, if weeds are properly controlled. is a preferred choice for a stubble crop in heavy clay soils. is inoculated with the lentil strain of "Rhizobium leguminosarum". This will assure that the lentil plants fix part of their nitrogen requirement. The rhizobia infect the root hairs of the germinating seed and induce nodule formation. These nodules are the site of nitrogen fixation. The nitrogen-fixing "Rhizobium" symbiotically fixes up to 40 percent of the nitrogen in the lentil plant and the rest is obtained from the soil. requires phosphorus in relatively large amounts for proper growth. crop is relatively short and lacks the ability to form a dense canopy even under ideal growing conditions. Because of this, most common annual grass and broadleaf weed species can compete effectively with lentil any time throughout the growing season. may be attacked by grasshoppers and cutworms and Ascochyta blight is the most serious disease of lentil in western Canada. cannot tolerate much flooding. pods shatter readily and must be swathed when the earliest pods turn light brown and rattle. Shattering may be reduced by swathing at night when the higher humidity helps toughen the pods. The light fluffy lentil swaths are easily blown by wind the first day or so after swathing, but quickly settle. Extreme care must be taken in harvesting the lentil crop. The plant is low (20 to 40 cm tall), so the swather must be operated as low to the ground as possible. Lentil plants normally are ready to thresh about one week after swathing. Lentil seed are graded according to moisture content, foreign material in seed, and damage of seeds.