Lentil Crop Stage Wise IPM

Pre-sowing

Common cultural practices:

• Summer deep ploughing
• Follow crop rotation with non host crops
• Field sanitation, rogueing
• Destroy the alternate host plants

Nutrients

• Apply well decomposed FYM @ 4-5 tons / acre incorporated with Trichoderma 2-3 weeks before sowing

Weeds

• Destroy weeds manually or by deep summer ploughing

Sowing

Common cultural practices:

• Do summer ploughing
• Timely sowing should be done
• Solarize the field in summer to help reduce the inoculums.
• Use resistant varieties
• Select seed from disease free fields

Nutrients

• Seed treatment should be done with Rhizobium culture @ 200 g/ acre.
• Fertilizers should be applied on soil test basis. Generally, it is recommended to apply 8 to 10 kg N, 16 kg P2O5 , 8 kg K2O, 8 kg sulphur and 6 kg ZnSO4 per acre at the time of sowing as basal application..

Weeds

• Always use certified and weed free seeds.
• Timely sowing should be done.
• Line sowing should be done to facilitate inter-culture operations.
• Plant population should be maintained to its optimum right from its beginning to minimize the crop weed competition.
• Adopt suitable crop rotation to minimize dodder and orobanche weeds.

Pests, Soil-borne pathogens

• Deep ploughing of fields during summer to manage juvenile population of nematodes and insect pests.
• Soil solarization: Cover the beds with polythene sheet of 75 gauge thickness for six weeks before sowing to reduce the soil borne pests.

Vegetative

Common cultural practices:

• Avoid excess application of nitrogen
• Adopt the ecological engineering strategy.
• Conserve natural enemies
• Remove and destroy weeds periodically
• Removal and destruction of infected/infested plants

Nutrients

• Correct micronutrient deficiency if any in standing crop

Weeds

• Keep field boundary & bunds free from weeds.
• The crop field should be weed free initially for 4-5 weeks by following timely hoeing and weeding.
• Inter-culture operation/hoeing should be done twice at 20 and 35 days after sowing-using hand hoe to remove all weeds in between the row

Cow pea aphid

Mechanical control:

• Use yellow sticky trap

Biological control:

• Conserve the predators such as Syrphid flies, Rove beetle, Green lacewing, Ladybird beetle and parasitoids such as Aphidius spp. Aphelinus sp.

Cut worm

Biological control:

• Conserve and augment the predators and parasitoids

Thrips

Cultural control:

• Ploughing, harrowing and solarisation can kill pupae in the soil from previously infested crops.

Mechanical control:

• Adult thrips can be monitored by mass trapping with blue sticky traps or water pan traps in field.

Biological control:

• Conserve and augment the various biological control agents, including minute pirate bugs, Orius spp., Big eyed predatory bug, Geocoris sp. and entomopathogenic nematodes,

Pod borers

Biological control:

• Conserve and augment biocontrol agents.

Fusarium wilt and root rot diseases

Cultural control:

• Use resistant varieties (PL 406, PL 639 and PL 234)
• Follow crop rotation Weeds control
• Delayed sowing can reduce disease incidence
• Use of clean and certified seed.
• Deep ploughing over summer and removal of infected trash can reduce inoculum levels of Fusarium wilt

Mechanical control:

• Solarisation of soil by covering the soil with transparent polythene sheet (75 gauge) for 6-8 weeks during the summer for effective management.

Lentil rust

Cultural control:

• Use resistant varieties (PL 234, PL 406, LL 931, LL 699 and Narendra Masur-1)

Ascochyta blight

Cultural control:

• Use of resistant cultivars (LL 699)
• Use of disease free seed,
• Follow crop rotation

Powdery mildew

Cultural control:

• Use of resistant varieties

Mosaic virus

Cultural control:

• Use of disease free seeds

Mechanical control:

• Use yellow sticky traps for vector monitoring

Reproductive

Nutrients

• Incorporate crop residues in soil immediately after harvest

Aphids

• Same as vegetative stage

Lygus bug

Cultural control:

• Removal of weeds along field borders to prevent buildup of lygus bugs.

Biological control:

• Conserve and augment biocontrol agents

Cut worm and Thrips

• Same as vegetative stage