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Lentil Performance in Response to Weather, No‐Till Duration, and Nitrogen in Saskatchewan
Author(s) -
Zakeri Hossein,
Lafond Guy P.,
Schoenau Jeff J.,
Pahlavani M. Hadi,
Vandenberg Albert,
May William E.,
Holzapfel Chris B.,
Bueckert Rosalind A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj2011.0339
Subject(s) - cultivar , agronomy , growing season , yield (engineering) , nitrogen , soil water , biomass (ecology) , human fertilization , biology , zoology , horticulture , chemistry , ecology , materials science , organic chemistry , metallurgy
Increased soil N in no‐till (NT) systems can interfere with biological dinitrogen fixation (BNF), stimulate vegetative biomass, and affect harvest index (HI) and yield of lentil ( Lens culinaris L.). In the black soils of Saskatchewan, the effects of short‐term (5–7 yr: ST) and long‐term (28–30 yr: LT) NT practices on lentil were investigated in two experiments from 2006 to 2008. One trial tested the effects of NT duration on plant N and yield of five cultivars; the second examined the response of a late‐maturing cultivar to NT duration at four rates of N fertilization. In both studies, average grain yield in 2006 and 2007 (warm seasons) was 21% greater than in 2008 (cool season), although total rainfall and plant N content was similar in 2007 and 2008. Average soil available N over the years was 23% greater in LT than ST, but the cultivars had 33% less N and 28% less yield in LT than ST in a dry year (2006), and similar performance in LT and ST in the wet years (2007 and 2008). The 60 kg N ha −1 treatment in the second trial diminished the yield difference between LT and ST in 2006. The only BNF measurement in 2008 showed that the cultivars fixed 10% less atmospheric N 2 in LT than ST in this year. Overall, cool and wet growing conditions stimulate vegetative biomass and lower HI and yield of lentil, whereas a possible reduction of lentil BNF in NT systems is less likely to affect lentil yield.