Appraisal of lentil varieties for better performance in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Lentil (Lens esculenta) is commonly known as masur and it is important pulse legume crop in India. Lentil has the ability to fix nitrogen and grow in marginal environments. The productivity of lentil is generally low in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh, mainly due to lack of improved varieties and low technical knowhow. Therefore, the present study was conducted in the seventeen villages of district Bilaspur of Himachal Pradesh. Twenty five farmers’ fields were randomly selected and sown two high yielding improved varieties of lentil namely Vipasha and Markandey with one check variety already grown by the farmers. Among the varieties assessed, variety Vipasha proved to be the best with highest number of pods/plant (92.4) and minimum incidence of disease of 1.5 per cent resulting in the highest yield of 6.60 q/ha followed by Markandey with disease incidence of 2.1 per cent, 72.8 pods/plant and yield of 6.1 q/ ha. Hence, it was inferred that local variety must be replaced with Vipasha variety of lentil followed by Markandey.