Economic significance and geography of lentil cultivation in Russia

Lentil is a valuable legume crop, which is second only to soybean in protein content. The plant is in high demand in the food industry and livestock farming due to its high nutritional value and quick cooking time. The main cultivation zone for commercial large-seeded lentil in Russia remains the Central Black Earth region.

• Share of sowings in the Black Earth region — about 70 %
• Average yield — 22–25 c/ha
• Protein content in seed — 25–36 %
• 1000-seed weight — 25–75 g
• Large grain diameter — 5.6–9 mm

Economic importance, biological characteristics, and cultivars of lentil

Lentil seed contains easily digestible protein and is distinguished by high nutritional value. Unlike peas and beans, lentil cooks 2–3 times faster, which makes it a popular food product. Its flour is added to sausages, canned goods, confectionery, and used in baking to increase the protein content of crackers and bread.

In livestock farming, lentil is used as concentrated feed, particularly effective for fattening pigs. Not only seed is used, but also straw and chaff, which, if harvested in time, exceed oat straw in feed quality. A mixture of lentil flour with straw chaff and the chaff of other cereal crops is not inferior in nutritional value to good hay.

Among other plate cultivars with large light grain, Penza 14, Dneprovskaya 3, Luna 9, Novaya luna, and Belotserkovskaya 24 stand out. The cultivars Naryadnaya 3 and Stepnaya 244 also possess high market quality. Based on seed size, the crop is divided into two subspecies: large-seeded, or plate (seed diameter over 5.5 mm), and small-seeded (diameter 5.5 mm and less).

Cultivated lentil (Lens esculenta Moench.) is an annual 25 to 70 cm tall. The thin tetrahedral stem branches and may lodge slightly; by the time of ripening, it usually turns yellow. Compound even-pinnate leaves have 2–3 pairs of leaflets at the bottom and 4–8 pairs at the top, ending in a tendril. Rhombic pods contain 1 to 3 flat seeds of various colors.

Lentil is an ancient crop, known since the Stone Age. Its seed has been found in Egyptian tombs dated to 2000 BC. The primary center of origin for small-seeded lentil is considered to be Southwest Asia, including Iran, Afghanistan, and Northwest India. Large-seeded forms became established later in the Mediterranean, and in Russia, the crop is mentioned in chronicles of the XV—XVI centuries.

Main tillage system for lentil

The technology for winter fallow field preparation depends on the preceding crop. The correct choice of tillage scheme allows for the preservation of soil moisture and the clearing of the field of weeds before the early spring sowing of lentil.

If lentil is placed in a crop rotation after cereal crops, soil preparation is performed in two stages:

1. Stubble peeling immediately after harvesting the predecessor to a depth of 5—7 cm.
2. Deep ploughing for winter fallow to a depth of 25—27 cm, carried out 2—4 weeks after peeling.

When placing lentil after root crops and other late industrial crops, the technology changes. In this case, stubble peeling is not performed, and deep winter fallow ploughing of the field is carried out immediately. Lentil sowing begins simultaneously with early cereal crops. The optimal method is the solid row method. Harvesting is carried out by the two-phase method, guided by the ripening of the lower-tier pods.

• Seeding rate for small-seeded cultivars — 0.7–1.0 c/ha
• Seeding rate for plate lentil — 1.0–1.3 c/ha
• Seed placement depth — 4–5 cm

Biology and cultivation technology of faba beans

Faba (horse) beans (Vicia faba L.) are a valuable food and forage crop with a protein content of up to 35 % in the grain and up to 11 % in the straw. Large-seeded cultivars are grown for food purposes, while small-seeded ones are used for feed and green manure. Thanks to active nitrogen fixation, beans enrich the soil with nitrogen. In regions with sufficient humidity (Belarus, Ukraine, Dagestan, the Urals, Western Siberia, Altai Krai, Tajikistan, and Georgia), the crop consistently produces high yields.

The average yield of the crop is 20–40 c/ha of grain and 200–300 c/ha of green mass. At the same time, the crops are capable of absorbing up to 213 kg of nitrogen from the air (with a grain yield of 30 c/ha), leaving up to 95 kg of nitrogen in the soil afterwards. In Belarus, the faba bean cultivars Aushra, Streletskiye, and the vegetable cultivar Belorusskiye are regionalized. Late-maturing European cultivars (German, French, Polish) have a growing season of 120–140 days, whereas domestic early-maturing forms ripen in 110–120 days. The total growing season of the crop varies from 95 to 140 days.

The stem of the faba bean is straight, sparingly branched, and resistant to lodging; its height reaches 2 m under favorable conditions. The lower pods are set at a height of 30–35 cm from the ground, which simplifies mechanization and minimizes grain losses during harvesting. The crop is cold-hardy: the seed germinates at temperatures as low as 3–4 °C, and seedlings can withstand frosts down to −5 °C. However, the plants are demanding regarding soil fertility and moisture, especially during the period from sowing to flowering.

The best soils for faba beans are clay, loam, and peat-bog areas. In crop rotation, they are placed after well-fertilized row crops or grain crops. Soil tillage is carried out according to the classic scheme for early leguminous crops. Mineral and organic plant nutrition is planned taking into account the soil type and timing of application.

• Seeding rate for the wide-row method — 150–180 kg/ha
• Seeding rate for the square-cluster method — 80–100 kg/ha
• Seed sowing depth on light soils — 6–8 cm
• Seed sowing depth on cohesive soils — 5–6 cm

To obtain a stable harvest, it is important to strictly observe technical regulations. The technological chain for cultivating faba beans includes seed treatment, sowing, and subsequent care. All operations are performed in strict sequence:

1. Seed treatment. Before sowing, the seed material is treated with preparations such as Granosan, Germisan, or TMTD. On the day of sowing, the seed is additionally treated with Nitragin.
2. Sowing. Sowing is performed using the wide-row method (row spacing of 45–60 cm) or the square-cluster method (60 × 60 cm scheme, with 6–7 plants per cluster).
3. Crop care. Weeds are controlled by harrowing. Additionally, 2–3 inter-row loosenings are carried out, which cease when the plants reach a height of 50–60 cm.
4. Top dressing. During the second loosening, superphosphate (10–15 kg/ha) and potash salt (5 kg/ha) are applied.
5. Topping. At the beginning of flowering, the tops of the plants are removed (topping) to accelerate bean ripening.
6. Harvesting and post-harvest processing of grain. The crop is harvested using a two-phase method, or in dry weather, by direct combining. Threshed grain is immediately dried to a moisture content of 15–16 %.
7. Silage harvesting. When grown for silage, the green mass is mowed in the milk-wax stage of maturity. The plant mass is best ensiled in a mixture with corn.