Lentil seed production plot; Source: Image collection of Unique Seed Company, Dhangadhi, Nepal

Varietal database of lentil in Nepal

Last updated on 2020-05-26 3 min read Plant Breeding, agriculture

This one is my effort to compose an updated database on the current situation of lentil germplasm in Nepal. I’ve managed to list out the varieties that have been made available so far (either through release or registration process). Although, a lot of other popular genotypes are trending in cultivation as of now. I consider NARC’s varietal catalogs to be the most authentic, so have borrowed most of the information from these published documents.

Several inconsistencies exists even among higly praised documents, mainly for the attributes that are most affected by environmental variation; these include, but not limited to, yield, days to flowering and days to maturity traits. Besides that, publishers should also have assisted the records with the mention of cropping system in which the varieties were raised. It’s implication cannot be underemphasized, and real case scenario could justify that. For example, a crop certainly yields much in a sole cropped situation in contrast to when it is grown as mixed crop. A reasonable comparison between these two systems of cultivation cannot be made precisely. So, it’s best to leave with an explaination about how crops were grown in these types of situation. Wherever possible these values should be further contextualized (for example by, noting the actual location it were grown in, the season it was sown, etc.).

As for this post, the database will to be updated as the information comes along to reflect the latest details. Following is a list of released and registered varieties of lentil:

Table 1: Released and registered varieties of lentil in Nepal
Variety	Parentage	Origin	Certified Year	Certified Year (BS)	Days to maturity1	Days to maturity2	Protein (percentage)	Production1 (ton_per_ha)	Production2 (ton_per_ha)	Recommended Area	Special characteristics
Simrik	T36	India	1979	2036	138	143	25.0	1.5	2.11	Hills, Inner Terai and Terai	Medium bold seed, wilt tolerant
Sisir	P43	India	1979	2036	150		25.0	2.0	1.54	Hills, Inner Terai and Terai
Sindur		Nepal	1979	2036	133	148	25.0	1.5	1.78	Hills, Inner Terai and Terai	Wide adaptation
Simal	LG7	India	1990	2046	143	143	27.0	4.1	1.10	Hills, Inner Terai and Terai	Small seed
Shikhar	ILL-4404	Pakistan	1990	2046	143		27.4	3.5	1.09	Hills, Inner Terai and Terai	Wilt tolerant
Khajura Masuro-1	LG198	India	1999	2056	128			1.5		Mid and far western terai
Khajura Masuro-2	ILL-2573	ICARDA	1999	2056	134			2.1			Bold seed, wilt tolerant
Shital	ILL-2580	ICARDA	2004	2061	134			1.1		Terai and Midhills	Wilt tolerant, brown seed
Maheswor Bharati	ILL-7982	ICARDA	2007	2064	111			1.4		Midhills, lowhills	Wilt tolerant, bold seed
Sagun	ILL-6829	ICARDA	2007	2064	98			1.3			Bold seed
Khajura Masuro-3	RL-4	Nepal	2016	2073	148			1.5		Terai and river basins	Stemphylium blight tolerant, high Se, Fe and Zn containing

It it very unfortunate that we have very contrasting information published (without explaination) in different versions of national databases. For instance, in Table 1, Production1 (ton_per_ha) column was borrowed from “Krishi Diary, 2075” and the other column for the same yield trait (Production2 (ton_per_ha)) from elsewhere. I defer the exact reference and citation for a later date.

As to the status of cultivation of lentil, recent data shows that there is, in overall, a rising trend of lentil cultivation in Nepal, albeit the progress has slowed down in recent years. Below, I summarize the historical trend reported since 1961 A.D. of cultivated area, production and productivity.