Tillage practices affect the soil health, water use efficiency and yield of lentil in hill torrent area of District Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan

Pre- and post-flood tillage practices were evaluated in field studies for their effects on soil health, soil water use and lentil productivity in the Mithawan hill torrent irrigated region at two sites in Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab (Pakistan) for two consecutive years. Pre-flood tillage treatments included Mouldboard plough, Chisel plough, Disc plough, Cultivator and Farmers practice (left fallow). While post-flood tillage treatments comprised of Cultivator; Cultivator and rotavator. Soil moisture availability at flowering stage increased from 23.38% at 0-15 cm to 26.50% at 31-45 cm at site 1 during the first year. At site 2, the respective increase across increasing depth was 23.44% to 26.18%. Water productivity in chisel plough run fields as pre-flood treatment increased to 0.04 and 0.043 kg m-3 at site 1 and 2, respectively, during the first growing season.; however, the bulk density at site 1 reached 1.45 g cm-3 and 1.41 g cm-3 at site 1 and 1.44 g cm-3 and 1.42 g cm-3 at site 2. Moreover, soil EC and pH were reduced after the cultivation of lentil at both sites irrespective of the treatments employed. Seeds per pod (1.93), during the 1st year (site 2); the heaviest 1000 grains (21.49g) during the 1st year (site 2) and seed yield during 1st year (420.7 and 456.3 kg ha-1) and 2nd year (91.1 and 73.0 kg ha-1) at site 1 and 2, respectively, were highest in the chisel plough run plots of the field. The highest benefit cost ratios (1.2 and 1.4) were recorded from the same chisel plough run fields as pre-flood tillage practice followed by cultivator as post-flood tillage practice at site 1 and 2 during 2019-20, respectively. Farmers in Mithawan hill torrent command areas of Dera Ghazi Khan can have better soil moisture use for improved lentil productivity during reasonable soil water supplies. Moreover, because this area has been little researched for lentil hence more research is highly advocated for standardization of agronomic interventions besides development and provision of adaptable high yielding promising climate smart cultivars for the hill torrent hit ecologies.