1Department of Plant Physiology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia-741 252, West Bengal, India
2ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal-132 001, Haryana, India
3ICAR-Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow-226 002, Uttar Pradesh, India
4Department of soil and water systems, University of Idaho-Boise, Boise, Idaho, USA
5Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, GLA University, Mathura281 406, Uttar Pradesh, India
6ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, Kolkata-700 121, West Bengal, India
*Corresponding Author: Ananya Baidya, Department of Plant Physiology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia-741 252, West Bengal, India. Email: theananya4@gmail.com
In eastern India, lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) is largely grown as a rice-fallow crop under residual soil moisture. Delayed rice harvesting frequently causes delayed lentil sowing, exposing crops to sub-optimal climatic conditions during critical phenophases and inducing terminal heat and drought stress that reduce growth, development and yield.
A field experiment was conducted with five lentil genotypes (WBL-58, PRECOZ, WBL-77, ILL-10893 and L-13-123) sown on 15th November, 30th November and 15th December to assess phenology, physiology, yield attributes and seed quality under delayed sowing.
Delayed sowing significantly reduced seed-filling duration, yield components, dry matter partitioning, seed size, micronutrient concentration and seed germination. Flowering time, pollen quality, chlorophyll content, relative leaf water content and proline accumulation were adversely affected across genotypes. WBL-58 performed best under low soil moisture (-0.885 to -1.665 MPa) and high temperature (30-32°C), whereas L-13-123 showed severe yield loss.
Lentil, Micronutrient, Pheno-phase, Pollen, Terminal drought
