ARS | Publication request: WATER USE BY LENTILS IN PARTIAL SUMMER FALLOW REPLACEMENT

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: November 3, 1995
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Objective was to evaluate seasonal water use by black lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus), a potential partial fallow replacement crop, and to evaluate parameters potentially useful as tools for soil water management on the northern Great Plains. Two weighing lysimeters, on a William loam (Typic Argiboroll), were located in the middle of adjacent 180- by 180-m fields. Lentil was seeded no-till into wheat stubble on one lysimeter field in 1993, the other was in chemical fallow. The procedure was reversed in 1994. Plant height had a near common relationship between years to growing degree days (GDD). Cumulative evapotranspiration (ET) had same relationship between years to GDD until about 800 GDD, corresponding to nearly 300 mm ET. At full bloom lentils had used ca. 50 to 70 mm more water than fallow. No more than ca. 50 mm water above that lost to fallow should be sacrificed for a following grain crop. Because plant height was closely related to both GDD and cumulative ET, it seems plausible that a simple measure of plant height can give sufficient accuracy for determining when a partial fallow replacement-crop should be terminated.