Growing Your Knowledge; the Organic Lentil Crop – The Organic Lentil Pulse Crop – Lentil – Behind the Superfood – Lentils (Lens culinaris Medik.) are an old-world crop, domesticated 7000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent and widely spread to the Nile, Central Europe, Greece, and South Asia. Lentils are annual, self-pollinating winter legumes with erect plants 6 to 18 inches tall. The plants have two to four pale blue flowers on the leaf axils and have alternate leaves where upper leaves modify tendrils.

The two seeds with doubly convex shapes are produced in 1.5 cm long pods, generally inflated and oblong. Based on the seed size, macrosperma and microsperma are two cultivated subtypes of lentils. Macrosperma has large-sized pods and seeds, cultivated primarily in Europe, North Africa, and America, while microsperma is small-seeded, mainly grown in Asia, Egypt, and Ethiopia. The Leguminosae family has 800 genera and 20,000 species; among these species, lentil is self-pollinated diploid cool-season legume species with seven chromosome pairs and a relatively large genome of ~4 Gbp. Lentil, or “poor man’s meat,” is low in fat and high in protein, prebiotic carbohydrates, and a range of vitamins and minerals. A 50-g serving provides 3.7-4.5 mg of iron, 2.2-2.7 mg of zinc, and 22-34 µg of selenium and is very low in phytic acid (2.5-4.4 mg/g) and protein inhibitors. Lentil has a short cooking time (10-12 min) with low processing requirements; dehulling only. Biofortification is an approach to enrich seeds with bioavailable micronutrients using plant breeding tools. Mineral biofortification for iron, zinc, and selenium has successfully been adopted into lentil breeding programs worldwide.

Lentils are the fourth predominant pulse crop grown globally. Canada, India, the United States of America (USA), Turkey, Australia, Nepal, and Bangladesh are the major countries leading lentil exports. Global lentil production is approximately 6.45 MT from 5.02 Mha. Will the Lentil fit Southern Agriculture? Lentils are best fit in mid-western regions and Washington due to their agronomic adaptability to cooler summers. Lentils in these regions are conventionally grown, and organic production is minimal. Therefore, organic pulse crops represent a new winter cash crop opportunity for southern areas, including South Carolina and North Carlina. Agriculture has been the main driver of the Carolinas’ economies since the 1600s. The major field crops for the region included corn, cotton, soybean, peanut, tobacco, and winter wheat. South Carolina (SC) has 25,000 farms totaling 4.9M acres, while North Carolina (NC) has 46,400 farms and 8.4M acres. Increasing crop production costs and decreasing commodity prices mean regional growers are exploring new specialty crop options. Incorporating cool-season food legumes (lentils: Lens culinaris Medik.) into existing cropping systems will increase overall crop productivity. Lentils fit best as a winter crop from January to May in the Southern USA.

Lentils have adapted to diverse soil types but grow well in sandy loam soils with slightly acidic to mildly alkaline soils with a pH range of 6-8 with high phosphorus soil conditions. Soil temperature up to 40°F is favorable for lentil planting with an annual rainfall of 75 cm. Lentils can tolerate droughts and frost with freezing temperatures of 21°F. The seed rate for different lentil varieties varies from 40 to 70 lbs/acre with 1 to 2-inch seed depth. Inoculating lentil seeds with nitrogen-fixing bacteria Rhizobium leguminosarum promotes roots’ nodulation, leading to biological nitrogen fixation. Based on the variety and growing conditions, lentils can harvest in 80-100 days.

Behind the Superfood Lentil is an excellent source of prebiotic carbohydrates that supports a healthy gut microbiome to reduce obesity-related health issues. These prebiotic carbohydrates are crucial to lentil plant health during heat and drought stress. A cup of lentil provides 13-15 g of prebiotic carbohydrates: this amount doubles after cooling and reheating. Lentil provides > 80% of the recommended daily requirements of prebiotic carbohydrates, associated with reduced weight gain via modulating the human gut microbiome. A study indicates rats fed a lentil diet had significantly lower mean body weight (443 g/rat) than those provided control (511 g/rat) or corn starch (502 g/rat) diets. Mean percent body fat and plasma triacylglycerol concentration were lower, and lean body mass was higher in rats fed the lentil than the corn diet. The fecal abundance of healthy bacteria, Actinobacteria and Bacteriodetes, increased in rats fed the lentil diet. In contrast, the number of Firmicutes (a bacterial phylum comprised of multiple pathogenic species) decreased in the lentil diet. Therefore, lentil is promising as a plant-based food to reduce obesity-related non-communicable diseases, a rising health concern in the USA. Further, organic lentils are becoming a popular food among the vegan and vegetarian community; however, organic lentil production is minimal in the USA.