Lentil and Lathyrus in the cropping systems of Nepal: improving crop establishment and yield of relay and post-rice-sown pulses in the terai and mid-hills

Nepal

Dr Clive Francis
Phone: 08 6488 1878
Fax: 08 9380 1140
Email: cfrancis@cyllene.uwa.edu.au

• Agriculture Victoria, Australia
• Birchip Cropping Group, Australia
• Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, Australia
• Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Nepal
• International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Syria

$634,422

01/07/2001 - 30/06/2004

01/07/2004 - 31/12/2007

Dr Paul Fox

Nepal has increased production and export of pulses by about 44 per cent in the last 15 years. Regional prices are variable, but can be very high. Within the country, lentils are an important and valuable crop for human consumption (mainly consumed as dhal). The grain contains about 28 per cent crude protein. Lentil straw is rich in nitrogen and is a palatable livestock feed. Lentils are mainly grown on the lower, flatter part of the country and in the gentler hills up to about 2000 metres elevation. The main constraints on Nepal's lentil production are fungal disease and low yields caused by dry soil. This last problem is a consequence of late planting of the crop after the rice harvest. In addition, lentils are often cultivated on marginal land and with poor management practices. The plant is also very sensitive to low pH; soil in some of the lentil-growing regions is becoming increasingly acidic and so reducing yields further.

An earlier ACIAR project worked on improving drought resistance and disease resistance in lentils. This project continues the work to improve the yield and quality of lentils produced in marginal and drought-prone environments (in Australia as well as Nepal) by identifying genotypes with higher yields, and by using selective breeding to improve the tolerance of the plant to acid soils and common diseases. Australia's small but developing lentil industry would also benefit from drought-tolerant genotypes. In addition, the scientists are working on Lathyrus sativus (the grasspea) which contains a toxin that can cause a neurological condition known as lathyrism. A reduction in the amount of toxin produced would make this plant more suitable for use as an animal feedstuff and also protect people who, through desperation or unscrupulous traders, eat foodstuffs containing this product.

The project will set up four experimental sites in Australia and three in Nepal. Research will characterise waterlogging conditions in relay-sown lentil in Nepalese rice paddies. Under field conditions, genotypes with waterlogging tolerance will be identified. The wilt and root rot diseases in Nepal will then be studied, with isolates of the fungus tested for pathogenicity. Germplasm with tolerance to the pathogen and to acid soils will be identified and propagated.

An important part of the work will be to assess the interactions between genotype and environment of the lines selected in this project and in the earlier ACIAR project (PN 9436). The scientists will identify the main agronomic traits associated with higher and more stable yields in water-limited environments in Nepal and Australia.

In the post-rice cropping systems of Nepal, the research will help develop improved methods of seed priming for farmers.

Lathyrus germplasm with low levels of the toxin ODAP will be identified for use in Nepal.

Other components of the project include training Nepalese scientists, and developing improved systems for increasing seed and releasing new varieties successfully to farmers.

Outcomes for this project are currently being prepared