Lentil (Masoor)
Lens culinaris
India's second rabi pulse after gram — a small legume sown on the moisture the monsoon leaves behind, fixing its own nitrogen and asking for at most one or two light irrigations. The season turns on three things: sowing on time so pod-fill misses the terminal heat, keeping a wilt-resistant variety on wilt-sick land, and not drowning a legume with water and urea it never needed.
Quick Summary
The key points from this page in about two minutes — read it or have it read aloud.
Quick Summary
Lentil, or masoor, is India’s second rabi pulse after gram, and it is grown much the same way: sown after the monsoon withdraws, living mostly on the soil moisture left behind, and — as a legume that fixes its own nitrogen — following a cereal like rice in the rotation without a heavy fertiliser bill and leaving the soil better than it found it.
The season turns on three things. Sow on time, so pod-fill lands before the terminal heat of spring, which otherwise brings dry root rot and shrivels the grain. On land with a lentil or pulse history, use a Fusarium-wilt-resistant variety, because wilt has no in-season cure and is beaten only by resistance. And resist the "kindness" mistake, the same one gram growers make: over-watering and top-dressing urea on a legume that makes its own nitrogen pushes leafy growth, delays podding and worsens wilt. One or two light protective irrigations, the first just before flowering, are all it wants.
In eastern India a large share of the crop is grown as a rice-fallow relay — seed broadcast into standing, near-mature paddy so it germinates on the residual moisture as the rice is cut, with no land preparation at all. Keep it weed-free for its first month, and in the humid eastern belt watch for Stemphylium blight, which can strip a flowering crop in days; elsewhere watch aphids and pod borer. Harvest as the plants yellow and the lower pods brown, before the top pods shatter. The page below carries the seed rate, spacing, Rhizobium and starter-dose details, the protective-irrigation timing, the utera method, crop duration, expected yields and current MSP.
- Crop type
- Pulse (legume)
- Season
- Rabi
- Suitable states
- Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand
- Growing duration
- 110–140 days
- Water requirement
- Low (mostly rainfed; 1–2 light protective irrigations where available)
- Temperature
- 18–30°C
- Soil type
- Well-drained loam to clay loam
- Difficulty level
- Easy
- Expected yield
- 8–12 q/ha rainfed, 14–20 q/ha managed
- MSP (RMS 2026–27)
- ₹7,000 / quintal
Overview
Lentil (Lens culinaris), called masoor or masur, is India's second-largest rabi pulse after gram, grown mainly across Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand. Like gram it is sown after the monsoon withdraws and grown largely on the soil moisture left behind, and like gram it fixes its own nitrogen through root nodules — so it follows a cereal such as rice in rotation without a heavy fertilizer bill and leaves the soil better than it found it.
Two broad seed classes are traded: small-seeded (masoor) types — the bulk of India's area, split into red dal — and bold-seeded types, which fetch a small premium and need better-managed soil to size up. A large share of eastern India's lentil is grown as a rice-fallow relay crop (utera or paira): seed broadcast into standing, near-mature paddy so the lentil germinates on the residual moisture as the rice is cut, with no separate land preparation at all.
The crop's defining risks are Fusarium wilt on land with a lentil or pulse history — which has no in-season cure and is beaten only by variety resistance — and, in the humid eastern belt, Stemphylium blight, which can defoliate a flowering crop within days. Its classic avoidable mistake is the same as gram's: kindness. Over-irrigating and top-dressing urea on a legume that makes its own nitrogen pushes leafy growth, delays podding and worsens wilt. This page follows the crop in the order you will actually meet it — land, seed, sowing, nutrition, water, protection, harvest, sale.
Crop timeline, sowing to harvest
A quick visual map of the season — jump to any section below for the detail behind each stage.
- Day 0
Sowing
Sown mid-October to mid-November into receding soil moisture, 22–30 cm rows, 4–6 cm deep — deeper on a dry seedbed so the seed reaches moisture in a crop grown largely without irrigation. Rice-fallow (utera/paira) crops in eastern India are broadcast into the standing rice a week or two before it is cut.
- Day 7–12
Germination & nodulation begins
Rhizobium bacteria on treated seed start forming the root nodules the crop uses to fix its own nitrogen — the reason lentil needs only a small starter dose of N and no top-dressing at all.
- Day 30–50
Vegetative growth
The crop branches from the base and closes its canopy; this is the critical weed-free window, cleared with one hand-weeding or hoeing around 30–35 days.
- Day 45–55
Pre-flowering irrigation
Where water is available, the first of at most two light protective irrigations goes on here, just before flowering — the single most rewarding one in a dry year.
- Day 55–75
Flowering & pod initiation
Small pale flowers open and set flat, two-seeded pods. In the humid eastern belt this is when Stemphylium blight can strip the canopy in a week; elsewhere aphids and pod borer start to build.
- Day 75–100
Pod filling
Decides final grain weight; the second light irrigation goes on early in this stage if the season has turned dry. A hot, moisture-stressed spell now brings dry root rot and shrivels the grain.
- Day 110–140
Maturity & harvest
The crop is ready when the plants yellow, the lower pods turn brown and dry, and the leaves start to shed — pulled or cut before the top pods dry enough to shatter and drop seed in the field.
Suitable states
States where this crop is grown at scale, highlighted below. Your local Krishi Vigyan Kendra is still the final word for your specific block.
- Jammu and Kashmir
- Himachal Pradesh
- Punjab
- Uttarakhand
- Haryana
- Delhi
- Uttar Pradesh
- Rajasthan
- Bihar
- Jharkhand
- West Bengal
- Sikkim
- Assam
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Meghalaya
- Nagaland
- Manipur
- Mizoram
- Tripura
- Gujarat
- Madhya Pradesh
- Chhattisgarh
- Maharashtra
- Odisha
- Goa
- Telangana
- Andhra Pradesh
- Karnataka
- Kerala
- Tamil Nadu
- Puducherry
- Ladakh
- Chandigarh
Grown here
Climate requirements
The sowing calendar is a balance. Sow too early into warm soil and the crop runs to leaf and flowers poorly; sow too late and flowering meets cold snaps, then pod-fill meets terminal heat. Mid-October to mid-November suits most of the plains; the eastern rice-fallow belt sows earlier, often into standing paddy, precisely to finish ahead of the worst fog and heat.
Ideal temperature
18–30°C through growth; lentil is a cool-season crop, but a hard frost during flowering blanks pods and a hot spell above about 32°C during pod-fill (terminal heat) shrivels the grain in a late-sown crop
Rainfall
A cool, dry, largely rainless season is ideal — the crop lives on stored soil moisture. Unseasonal rain, heavy dew or a humid cloudy spell during flowering and podding is actively harmful, favouring Stemphylium and Botrytis alike
Humidity
Low to moderate humidity suits the crop; the humid winters of the eastern Gangetic plain are exactly why Stemphylium blight is the region's worst lentil disease and why early sowing there is pushed to get pod-fill done before the fog sets in
Sunlight
Full sun and clear, dry days through flowering and podding give the best pod set; overcast, humid weather at flowering is the worst combination for both disease and aphid pressure
Soil requirements
A soil test here matters most for phosphorus, sulphur and zinc and for pH — not for nitrogen, which the crop mostly makes for itself. On a field new to lentil or pulses, seed inoculation with Rhizobium is the cheapest, highest-return input there is, because there is no established rhizobium population in the soil to begin with.
Suitable soil
Well-drained loam to clay loam; the black soils of Madhya Pradesh and the alluvium of the Gangetic plain both grow good lentil provided drainage is sound. Rice-fallow relay crops go onto heavy paddy land, which works only because the standing rice has already drawn the field down
pH range
6.0–8.0 — nodulation drops off in strongly acidic or highly sodic soil; lentil tolerates mild salinity and mild alkalinity better than many pulses but not waterlogging
Drainage
Good to very good — lentil is highly intolerant of waterlogging, and standing water even briefly at the seedling or flowering stage invites wilt, collar rot and root rots that no spray reliably cures once established
Organic matter
Medium; the crop does not need heavy organic build-up and responds poorly to a rich, over-fertile field by growing leafy at the expense of pods
Land preparation
Same four steps whichever region you are in — only the timing shifts with the sowing window.
- 1
Field cleaning
Clear the previous kharif crop's residue and stubble; undecomposed residue left in a moist seedbed is a common trigger for collar rot in the emerging seedlings.
- 2
One or two harrowings for a line-sown crop
Lentil does well on a moderately coarse seedbed rather than a fine, over-worked one — a rough tilth conserves the sub-surface moisture the crop will live on. Follow with a plank (pata) to break large clods.
- 3
No land preparation at all for a rice-fallow (utera/paira) crop
In the relay system, seed is broadcast straight into standing, near-mature paddy a week or two before harvest — the whole point is to catch the residual moisture with zero tillage and zero turnaround time.
- 4
Conserve residual moisture
Every operation after the monsoon is really about protecting stored soil moisture. Avoid unnecessary tillage that dries the seed zone, and sow soon after the field is prepared rather than letting it bake open.
Seed information
How the main varieties compare, so you can pick by duration, yield, disease pressure or what you are growing for.
| Variety | Duration | Yield | Disease resistance | Best state | Suitable for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A widely grown small-seeded variety from GBPUAT, Pantnagar, valued in the eastern plains for combining rust and wilt resistance with steady performance under rice-fallow and timely-sown conditions. | 130–140 days | High | Resistant to rust and wilt | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand | Small-seeded red dal, North East Plains Zone |
An older small-seeded Pantnagar release still grown across the northern plains for its reliability and dependable dal recovery; treat its disease reaction as moderate and pair with seed treatment on wilt-prone land. | 130–135 days | Medium–High | Moderate | Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand | Timely-sown small-seeded dal |
An IARI, New Delhi release (1993) from a PL 234 × PL 639 cross, recommended for the North West Plains and Central Zones and often written simply as "L-407" in farmer lists. A bolder seed than the eastern masoor types. | 130–140 days | High | Resistant to rust, tolerant to wilt | Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana | Bolder-seeded dal for central and north-west India |
An early, high-yielding small-seeded variety from ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur, bred to escape terminal heat in the Central Zone and fit tight rice-fallow windows — one of the shortest-duration lentils in wide cultivation. | 110–120 days | High | Resistant to wilt, tolerant to rust | Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh | Early sowing, late-sown heat escape, rice-fallow |
A biofortified small-seeded variety from ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur, carrying notably higher grain iron and zinc than ordinary masoor; it has been one of the most widely multiplied lentils in the country in recent years. | 120–130 days | High | Moderate to good | Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar | Nutrition-focused small-seeded dal, mainstream market |
A short, early small-seeded variety from Banaras Hindu University for the North East Plains Zone, developed as a mutant of HUL 11 and grown widely across eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. | 120–125 days | Medium–High | Resistant to rust and wilt | Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand | Early small-seeded dal for the humid eastern belt |
A bold-seeded variety long grown in the Central Zone for the large-grain dal market, combining rust and wilt resistance with attractive seed size on the black soils of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. | 125–135 days | High | Resistant to rust and wilt | Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana | Premium bold-seeded dal |
- Seed rate
- Small-seeded types: 30–40 kg/ha (12–16 kg/acre). Bold-seeded types: 45–60 kg/ha, since the same plant population needs more weight in larger seed. Rice-fallow (utera/paira) crops are broadcast thicker, around 45–50 kg/ha, to offset poorer establishment into standing rice.
- Certified seed
- Use certified or truthfully-labelled seed of a wilt-resistant variety suited to your zone — on wilt-prone land, variety resistance is the single most effective and cheapest defence there is. Clean seed also matters here for a second reason: lentil lots are commonly contaminated with wild vetch (Vicia sativa, "ankri"), whose flat seed is hard to separate and downgrades the whole consignment.
- Spacing
- 22–30 cm between rows and 5–10 cm between plants for a line-sown crop; rice-fallow crops are broadcast and not spaced.
- Seed treatment
- A three-step treatment in order: first a fungicide (carbendazim + thiram, or Trichoderma viride) against wilt and root rots, then Rhizobium leguminosarum culture, and finally a phosphate-solubilising bacteria (PSB) culture — the Rhizobium and PSB must go on after the fungicide has dried, never mixed with it.
Sowing guide
Sowing on time is worth more here than almost any input. Early-sown lentil in the eastern belt escapes the worst of the winter fog that drives Stemphylium blight and gets its pods filled before the heat; late-sown lentil meets cold at flowering and heat at pod-fill and under-yields on both counts.
- Best time
- Mid-October to mid-November across most of the plains for a line-sown crop. Rice-fallow (utera/paira) lentil in eastern India is broadcast earlier, into standing near-mature paddy in late October, so it establishes on residual moisture and finishes pod-fill before terminal heat.
- Row spacing
- 22–30 cm for a line-sown crop; broadcast for rice-fallow
- Plant spacing
- 5–10 cm within the row
- Sowing depth
- 4–6 cm — deeper than a cereal, so the seed reaches reliable sub-surface moisture in a crop grown largely without irrigation
- Method
- Line sowing with a seed drill or behind a plough into moisture for a normal crop; broadcasting into standing rice for the relay crop. Deeper placement into moist soil gives far more even emergence than shallow sowing that chases a fast-drying surface
Fertilizer schedule
A split dose beats one large dose applied at sowing — nitrogen especially is lost to the air and to leaching if it all goes in on day one.
- 1
Basal (at sowing)
Day 0
A small starter dose only — around 15–20 kg N and 40–50 kg P2O5 per hectare, placed near the seed. The nitrogen is just a starter until nodulation takes over; phosphorus is the nutrient lentil most reliably responds to.
- 2
Sulphur & zinc (basal)
Day 0
On light or sulphur-deficient soils, 20 kg sulphur per hectare at sowing lifts both yield and grain quality; a zinc application follows a soil test where zinc is low, common on heavily rice-cropped land.
- 3
No nitrogen top-dressing
—
Unlike a cereal, lentil gets no nitrogen top-dressing. Once nodulation is working the crop supplies its own; adding urea now pushes leafy growth, delays podding and worsens wilt — a classic and costly kindness.
Irrigation schedule
1. Pre-flowering irrigation
Day 45–55
Where water is available, this first light irrigation just before flowering is the single most rewarding one — but only a light one, since lentil resents wet feet.
2. Pod-filling irrigation
Day 75–85
A second light irrigation early in pod-fill helps grain size where the season has turned dry; skip it if the crop is lush or the soil still holds moisture.
Critical stages
- Pre-flowering (branching and flower initiation)
- Pod filling (grain-size determination)
Water-saving tips
- Most lentil is grown entirely on stored soil moisture with zero irrigation — treat any irrigation as a small, precise top-up at the two critical stages, not a routine schedule.
- Deep sowing into moisture at the start replaces much of the need for early irrigation.
- Over-irrigation is the more common error than under-irrigation: it pushes vegetative growth, delays podding and directly worsens wilt and root rots.
- If only one irrigation is possible, give it just before flowering rather than later.
Weed management
Common weeds
Organic control
- One hand-weeding or a light inter-row hoeing at 30–35 days covers the crop's critical weed-free period.
- Row spacing of 22–30 cm is set partly so a hoe or wheel-hand-hoe can pass between rows.
- Rogue out wild vetch (Vicia sativa) by hand before it seeds — its seed contaminates the harvested lot and is very hard to clean out later.
Chemical control
- A pre-emergence herbicide such as pendimethalin applied within 2–3 days of sowing controls the early flush of weeds through the critical first 30–40 days.
- Follow local recommendations for any post-emergence option — registered choices for pulses are limited and crop-safety is narrow.
Nutrient deficiency identification
What a shortage of each nutrient actually looks like on the plant, so you can tell a deficiency apart from a disease before you spray the wrong thing.
Nitrogen (nodulation failure)
Visible symptom
Uniform pale yellowing and stunted growth despite adequate soil nitrogen — in a legume this almost always means poor or absent Rhizobium nodulation, not a genuine soil shortfall, and traces back to skipped or poorly done seed inoculation.
Phosphorus
Visible symptom
Dull, dark bluish-green older leaves, delayed flowering and weak root development; lentil is notably responsive to phosphorus, and a shortfall shows up as fewer pods rather than obvious leaf symptoms.
Sulphur
Visible symptom
Pale yellowing of the younger leaves first (sulphur does not move within the plant), easily mistaken for nitrogen deficiency; common on light soils and a real yield-limiter in pulses.
Zinc
Visible symptom
Small leaves, shortened internodes and a bushy, stunted look; shows up on zinc-poor and heavily rice-cropped soils and is confirmed with a soil test.
Iron
Visible symptom
Interveinal yellowing of the youngest leaves while the veins stay green, most common on high-pH calcareous soils or after a spell of waterlogging.
Molybdenum
Visible symptom
Nitrogen-deficiency-like paling that does not respond to nitrogen — molybdenum is needed for the nodule enzyme that fixes nitrogen, and a shortfall on acidic soils quietly caps how much the crop can fix.
Diseases to watch for
Symptoms, likely cause and what actually treats it — not just a spray name.
Fusarium wilt
- Symptoms
- Sudden drooping, inward curling and dull-green wilting of whole plants in patches, often at the seedling stage or again at flowering; a cut stem shows dark, discoloured internal tissue. Plants collapse and dry standing.
- Cause
- The soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lentis, which persists in the soil for years and is worse in warm soil, late sowing and continuous lentil cropping.
- Treatment
- There is no reliable in-season cure once wilt appears — management is preventive. Rogue out and remove affected plants to limit build-up.
- Prevention
- Grow a wilt-resistant variety (PL 406, IPL 316, HUL 57, DPL 62) — the single most effective defence. Treat seed with a fungicide or Trichoderma, sow at the right time into cooler soil, and rotate away from lentil on badly affected fields.
Stemphylium blight
- Symptoms
- Tan to light-brown spots that appear almost overnight on leaves and quickly run together, so a green flowering crop looks scorched and drops most of its leaves within a week. The worst lentil disease of the humid eastern Gangetic plain.
- Cause
- The fungus Stemphylium botryosum, favoured by warm days, cool nights and long dew or fog periods during flowering — exactly the eastern-plains winter.
- Treatment
- Spray a fungicide (mancozeb, or an azole such as tebuconazole) at first appearance and repeat after 10–15 days if humid weather continues through flowering and podding.
- Prevention
- Sow early so pod-fill is done before the peak fog period, avoid over-dense stands that hold moisture in the canopy, and use tolerant varieties where available; do not sow lentil after lentil on a field with a blight history.
Rust
- Symptoms
- Yellowish then reddish-brown powdery pustules on the underside of leaves, on stems and on pods; in a severe attack the plant dries early with a scorched, "burnt" look and the grain stays small.
- Cause
- The fungus Uromyces viciae-fabae, favoured by cool, cloudy, humid weather and heavy dew from flowering onwards, most damaging in central and peninsular India.
- Treatment
- Spray mancozeb or a suitable systemic fungicide at first pustules and repeat as advised if the weather stays favourable.
- Prevention
- Grow a rust-resistant variety (PL 406, L 4076, HUL 57, DPL 62), avoid very late sowing that pushes the susceptible pod stage into peak rust weather, and destroy volunteer lentil and infected debris.
Collar rot & dry root rot
- Symptoms
- Seedlings rot at the soil line with a white cottony mould and tiny mustard-seed sclerotia at the base (collar rot), or scattered plants dry suddenly late in the season with dark, brittle, shredded roots during a hot dry pod-fill spell (dry root rot).
- Cause
- Sclerotium rolfsii on undecomposed residue in a warm, moist seedbed for collar rot; Rhizoctonia bataticola (Macrophomina) under combined heat and moisture stress for dry root rot.
- Treatment
- No effective in-season spray for either. For dry root rot, a light protective irrigation to relieve moisture stress during a hot spell is the practical response.
- Prevention
- Treat seed with Trichoderma, let residue decompose before sowing, sow on time to avoid terminal heat, and keep some moisture at pod-fill.
Pests to watch for
What to look for before the damage is visible, and organic options before you reach for a chemical.
Aphids
- Identification
- Soft-bodied green to black insects clustered on growing tips, flower stalks and young pods, often with sooty mould and ants in attendance; worst in a mild, still, cloudy spell at flowering.
- Damage
- Sucks sap from flowers and developing pods, causing flower drop and poorly filled pods, and can transmit virus; a heavy flowering-stage colony directly cuts pod set.
- Organic control
- Conserve ladybird beetles and syrphid flies, which usually bring light infestations under control on their own; a neem oil spray knocks back building colonies without harming the predators.
- Chemical control
- A need-based spray of a recommended insecticide (such as dimethoate or imidacloprid) only when colonies are spreading fast at flowering, not as a routine.
Gram pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera)
- Identification
- Green to brown caterpillars that bore neat holes into pods and eat the developing grain; moths and early larvae appear around flowering. Lentil is less preferred than gram but still hit in a bad Helicoverpa year.
- Damage
- A caterpillar hollows out one pod after another; a heavy infestation at podding can take a visible share of the crop before the damage is obvious from the field edge.
- Organic control
- Pheromone traps to time action, bird perches for predatory birds, and a spray of Helicoverpa NPV or neem against early-stage larvae; avoid early broad-spectrum sprays that kill natural parasitoids.
- Chemical control
- A need-based spray of a recommended insecticide (such as emamectin benzoate or chlorantraniliprole) timed to early-stage larvae at flowering and early podding, guided by trap catches rather than the calendar.
Pulse beetle (bruchid) — storage
- Identification
- Small brown beetles whose grubs develop inside the stored grain, leaving round exit holes; infestation often begins in the field and multiplies rapidly in storage.
- Damage
- The main post-harvest pest of lentil — it bores through stored grain, cutting weight, germination and market grade, and can ruin a stored lot within a few months if unchecked.
- Organic control
- Dry the grain to about 9–10% moisture before storage, store in airtight containers, and mix in neem leaves or use traditional airtight practices; solar heating of small lots also kills the grubs.
- Chemical control
- Fumigation of stored grain under proper safety precautions where a large quantity is held; keep seed and food lots separate and never treat food grain with seed-only chemicals.
Common mistakes to avoid
The mistakes that cost growers the most, ranked by how often they show up in the field — not in the order you might expect.
- 1
Over-irrigating the crop
Why it hurts
Lentil fixes its own nitrogen and lives on stored moisture — extra water pushes leafy growth, delays and reduces podding, and directly worsens wilt and root rots. Over-watering is the most common way farmers cut their own lentil yield.
- 2
Top-dressing nitrogen like a cereal
Why it hurts
Urea on a nodulating legume grows a lush canopy at the expense of pods, delays maturity and raises disease pressure — the opposite of the intended effect, and wasted money.
- 3
Skipping Rhizobium seed inoculation
Why it hurts
On a field new to lentil or pulses there is no rhizobium in the soil; without inoculation the crop cannot fix nitrogen properly and behaves like a starved plant — forfeiting the cheapest, highest-return input the crop has.
- 4
Growing a wilt-susceptible variety on wilt-prone soil
Why it hurts
Fusarium wilt has no reliable in-season cure; a susceptible variety on infected land can wipe out patches that a resistant variety would have carried through.
- 5
Sowing late in the eastern belt
Why it hurts
Late-sown lentil in the humid eastern plains runs flowering and podding straight into peak fog and Stemphylium weather, then into terminal heat — early sowing is the region's single biggest yield lever.
- 6
Ignoring Stemphylium blight until the canopy browns
Why it hurts
The disease can strip a green flowering crop in under a week; the return on a protective fungicide is highest at first spots, and near-zero once the leaves are down.
- 7
Sowing too shallow
Why it hurts
A shallow-sown rabi pulse chases a fast-drying surface and germinates unevenly, leaving a gappy stand that never fully recovers and hands those gaps to weeds and wilt.
- 8
Sowing seed contaminated with wild vetch (ankri)
Why it hurts
Vicia sativa seed is flat, hard to separate out, and contaminates the harvested lot — buyers discount a vetch-mixed consignment, so it is worth roguing the weed in the field before it sets seed.
- 9
Storing under-dried grain
Why it hurts
Lentil stored above about 10% moisture is prey to the pulse beetle, which can hollow out a stored lot within months — losing in storage what was earned in the field.
Harvesting
When the plants have yellowed, the lower pods have turned brown and dry, and the leaves are starting to shed — usually 110–140 days after sowing. Harvest before the top pods dry enough to shatter, which drops seed in the field; early morning cutting reduces shattering loss.
Signs it is ready
- Plants turn yellow and the leaves begin to drop
- Lower and middle pods turn brown and dry, seed rattles loose inside
- Stems dry down and stiffen
- Grain is hard at about 12–15% moisture, drying further before storage
Tools
- Sickle for manual harvesting, or plants pulled by hand on a light, even stand
- Combine harvester for short, erect, machine-suitable varieties on larger holdings
- Threshing by pulse thresher or gentle beating, avoiding splitting the grain
Expected yield
8–12 q/ha under rainfed and rice-fallow conditions, rising to 14–20 q/ha with timely sowing, one or two protective irrigations and a wilt-resistant variety.
Post-harvest & storage
Storage
Dry the grain to about 9–10% moisture before storage — this is the single most important step against the pulse beetle. Store in clean, airtight containers or well-sealed bags in a dry space, keeping seed and food lots separate.
Packaging
Bagged in clean jute or woven bags for market; bold-seeded lots are graded by seed size, which sets their price, so size uniformity and freedom from wild-vetch contamination are worth protecting.
Transportation
Transport dry and protected from rain; moisture picked up in transit undoes careful drying and invites both mould and storage pests.
Shelf life
Well-dried lentil stored airtight keeps for a year or more; the limiting factor is almost always the pulse beetle rather than the grain itself, which is why drying and airtight storage matter so much.
Market prices
Today's mandi price near you, pulled live from the government's own Agmarknet data.
Live daily mandi prices from the government Agmarknet dataset.
Synced from data.gov.in (Agmarknet). Rates are ₹ per quintal.
Weather
Current conditions and a 5-day outlook for your selected location, with one line of stage-aware advice.
Pick your state for current conditions and a 5-day outlook.
Live data from Open-Meteo
Profit calculator
Your own cost sheet, expected yield and selling price — not ours.
Where the money goes
Share of the total cost per acre, using the calculator’s own default cost sheet below — adjust the numbers there to match your field and this picture will no longer apply to you exactly, but the ranking rarely changes.
- Land rent44% (₹9,000)
- Labour20% (₹4,000)
- Machinery12% (₹2,500)
- Seed6% (₹1,200)
- Fertiliser6% (₹1,200)
- Pesticide & weedicide6% (₹1,200)
- Irrigation4% (₹800)
- Interest2% (₹500)
Official downloads
Government and ICAR documents only — everything below is hosted on an official server.
ICAR-IIPR — Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur
Package of practices, lentil variety releases (IPL 316, IPL 220) and pulse-specific advisories from the ICAR institute mandated for pulses research.
Agmarknet — mandi prices
Daily mandi arrivals and prices for lentil (masur) across regulated markets, to compare against MSP before selling.
Soil Health Card portal
Get a free, crop-wise fertilizer and micronutrient recommendation for your own field before finalising the schedule above.
mKisan — SMS advisory portal
Register for free SMS advisories timed to your crop stage and district.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best time to sow lentil (masoor)?
Mid-October to mid-November across most of the plains for a line-sown crop, into receding soil moisture after the monsoon. In the eastern rice-fallow belt, lentil is broadcast earlier — into standing near-mature paddy in late October — so it establishes on residual moisture and finishes pod-fill before the winter fog and terminal heat. Timely sowing is the single biggest yield lever the crop has.
How much lentil seed do I need per acre?
For small-seeded (masoor) types, roughly 12–16 kg per acre (30–40 kg/ha); bold-seeded types need about 18–24 kg per acre (45–60 kg/ha) because the same plant population weighs more in larger seed. Rice-fallow (utera) crops are broadcast a little thicker, around 18–20 kg per acre, to offset poorer establishment into standing rice.
Does lentil need nitrogen fertilizer?
Only a small starter dose at sowing — about 15–20 kg N/ha. Lentil fixes its own nitrogen through root nodules once inoculated with Rhizobium, so it gets no nitrogen top-dressing at all. Applying a full cereal-style nitrogen dose is a classic and costly mistake: it grows leaves at the expense of pods and worsens wilt.
What is the utera or paira system of growing lentil?
It is a relay system used widely in eastern India (Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, eastern Uttar Pradesh): lentil seed is broadcast into standing, near-mature paddy a week or two before the rice is harvested. The lentil germinates on the residual soil moisture as the rice comes off, with no land preparation and no turnaround time — the trade-off is patchier establishment, which is why the seed rate is kept higher.
Why is seed inoculation with Rhizobium important for lentil?
The nodule bacteria that let lentil fix its own nitrogen (Rhizobium leguminosarum) are not always present in the soil, especially on a field that has not grown lentil or another pulse recently. Inoculating the seed with the culture at sowing is the cheapest, highest-return input the crop has; skip it and the crop cannot fix nitrogen properly and behaves like a starved plant.
How many irrigations does lentil need?
Most lentil is grown entirely on stored soil moisture with no irrigation at all. Where water is available, give at most two light protective irrigations — one just before flowering (the most rewarding) and one early in pod-fill if the season has turned dry. Over-irrigation does more harm than under-irrigation, pushing leafy growth and worsening wilt.
What is Stemphylium blight and how do I manage it?
Stemphylium blight is a fungal disease (Stemphylium botryosum) that is the worst lentil disease of the humid eastern Gangetic plain. Tan-brown spots appear almost overnight on the leaves at flowering and run together so fast that a green crop can look scorched and shed most of its leaves within a week. Manage it by sowing early so pod-fill finishes before the peak fog period, avoiding over-dense stands, and spraying mancozeb or tebuconazole at the very first spots, repeating after 10–15 days if humid weather continues.
How do I control Fusarium wilt in lentil?
Wilt has no reliable in-season cure, so management is preventive. Grow a wilt-resistant variety such as PL 406, IPL 316, HUL 57 or DPL 62 — this is the single most effective and cheapest defence. Treat the seed with a fungicide or Trichoderma, sow at the right time into cooler soil, and rotate away from lentil on badly affected fields.
Which lentil variety should I grow?
Match it to your zone and end use. In the eastern plains, PL 406 and HUL 57 combine rust and wilt resistance with early maturity for the humid belt. In the Central Zone, IPL 316 (early, heat-escaping) and the bold-seeded DPL 62 are widely grown, and L 4076 suits the north-west and central belt. IPL 220 is a biofortified small-seeded type with higher grain iron and zinc. On wilt-prone land, variety resistance should be the first thing you check.
What is the current MSP for lentil?
₹7,000 per quintal for lentil (masur) for RMS (Rabi Marketing Season) 2026–27, as notified by the Government of India — up from ₹6,540 the previous season. Lentil is procured under the Price Support Scheme, though actual procurement varies by state and district, so check your local mandi rate against MSP before selling.
What yield can I realistically expect from lentil?
Around 8–12 quintals per hectare under rainfed and rice-fallow conditions, rising to 14–20 q/ha with timely sowing, one or two protective irrigations and a wilt-resistant variety. Realised yield depends heavily on sowing date, beating wilt through variety choice, and — in the east — getting ahead of Stemphylium blight.
Can lentil be grown after rice?
Yes — lentil after kharif rice is one of India's most common and sound rotations, grown either as a normally tilled crop on residual moisture or as a zero-till relay (utera/paira) broadcast into the standing rice. As a legume it fixes nitrogen and improves the soil for the next crop, and it needs little irrigation. On heavy rice soils, ensure the field drains, since lentil cannot tolerate waterlogging.
Why is my lentil crop tall and leafy but setting few pods?
Almost always too much water or nitrogen, or both — often on a rich field or after over-irrigation. A legume responds to a rich, wet environment by growing vegetatively rather than podding. Cut back irrigation and never top-dress nitrogen; the crop should be left a little "hungry" to pod well.
What is the wild vetch (ankri) problem in lentil?
Wild vetch (Vicia sativa), called ankri or akri, is both a field weed and a seed contaminant of lentil. Its flat seed is very close to lentil in size and hard to separate by cleaning, so a vetch-mixed lot is discounted by buyers. The practical fix is to rogue the weed out of the field by hand before it sets seed, and to start from clean, certified seed.
Still have questions?
The FAQs above cover the common ones. For anything specific to your field and soil, your nearest Krishi Vigyan Kendra is the authoritative answer.