Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is one of the most important winter legume crops which is grown in irrigated cropping systems, tolerant to drought and is commonly grown in the world (Sarker et al., 2003).
       
India ranked first in the lentil area and second in the production with 43 and 37 per cent of world area and production, respectively (Yadav et al., 2020). There is a need to increase both area and productivity of lentil in the country, with improved varieties and matching production technologies. This requires both large scale demonstrations and strong extension programmes to disseminate proven location specific technologies. Pulses with their unique ability of leaf litter fall, biological N2 fixation (BNF) and deep root system may be a suitable option to improve  the soil fertility.
       
The major constraints responsible for lower yield potential in lentil are unfair crop production technologies, viz, used improper method of  sowing (broadcast method),  use of poor quality seed, unawareness about seed treatment, imbalance use of external inputs (fertilizer, weedicide and pesticide), adopt least resistant varieties to disease and pest (Prasad et al., 2012b). Crop genotypes may behave differently due to their structure, particularly poor plant growth. In such situations, plant populations can play an important role in improving crop productivity (Prasad et al., 2012a). The main reason for this may be that most of the technology is yet to reach the farmers’ fields; therefore, there is an urgent need for a latest production technology transfer system in this area. Advanced and latest technology transfer system can prove to be effective. Many researcher reported that improved crop production cultivation practices (Pooniya et al., 2015  and Ali, 1998) such as seed treatment, high yield varieties, line sowing, integrated weed and pest management have improve productivity of legumes. These good management practices have the potential to enhance the lentil production in the Ratlam district.
       
The CFLD is an approach to speed the extension of proven technologies at farmers’ fields in a participatory mode with the objective to find out the maximum available resources for crop production and also to bridge the productivity gaps by increasing production (Kumar and Jakhar, 2020). Most of the farmers of Ratlam district grow only a confined variety of lentil, which gives low yields and high susceptible to wilt, in this regard, to increase the productivity, the Department of Agricultural, Cooperative and Farmers Welfare had sanctioned the project “Cluster Frontline Demonstration on Pulses” to ATARI, Jabalpur, Zone IX, through national food security mission (NFSM). KVK Ratlam was selected by ATARI, Jabalpur to implement this project with an objective to promote the production and productivity of lentil through CFLDs with latest and specific technologies viz- large seeded high yielding varieties and resistance to fusarium wilt (IPL-316) lentil variety under best package of practices.

The following objective of the CFLDs viz: latest crop production technologies popularize the newly released and improved varieties for varietal diversification and efficient management of inputs (Table 1). The present study of CFLDs was conducted during 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-2023 Rabi season by the KVK Ratlam, M.P. For conducting CFLDs, farmers were selected following the survey suggested by Choudhary (1999).


       
Total 200 farmers were selected in 80 ha area with 200 demonstration @ 1.0 acre (Table 2). The selected farmers followed the full package of practices like soil testing, improved variety of IPL-316, optimum seed rate (40 kg/ha), line sowing + seed treatment was done with Carbendazim 12% + Mancozeb 63% WP @ 2 g/kg seed + (Trichoderma viridi 5 g/Kg + Rhizobium 10 g/kg+ PSB culture @10 ml/ kg seed), applied balance dose of fertilizers on the basis of soil test value, timely weed management, irrigation scheduling and plant protection measure. Timely field visits made by the scientists ensured proper guidance in timely application of inputs and crop management. The relevant extension activities like field days and training at the demonstration sites were organized regularly to keep farmers motivated and aware of demonstrated technology and its performance at the farmer’s fields. The yield data of each demonstration was recorded in a systematic manner and the yield of farmers’ practices was also recorded at the same time. Data pertaining to crop growth, yield attributes and yield were collected at harvest and analyzed statistically. The B: C ratio was calculated based on the net return and cost of cultivation in each treatment. The extension gap (q/ha), technology gap (q/ha) and technology index (%) were calculated using the following formula as suggested by Samui et al., (2000); Kadian et al. (2004); Sagar and Chandra (2004); Dayanand and Mehta (2012).
 

Extension gap (q/ha) = Demonstration yield (q/ha) - Farmers yield (q/ha)

 

Technology gap (q/ha)  = Potential yield (q/ha) - Demonstration yield (q/ha)

CFLD on Lentil were conducted by using Lentil variety (IPL-316) in an area of 80 ha at 200 farmers field in different blocks of Ratlam district during the experiment period it was observed that the demonstration field have enhanced the seed yield compared to the farmer’s field.
 
Yield
 
The result expressed that the higher average yield of lentil in demonstration field over farmers field were due to knowledge and adoption of best package of practices it increase up to (56.1, 24.5 and 21.2%) during 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively as compared to farmers’ field (Table 3). The maximum yield recorded with demonstration yield was (12.8, 12.2 and 13.4 q/ha) and farmers plot was (8.2, 9.8 and 11.1 q/ha) during 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. Similar findings were also reported by Tomar (2010), Singh et al., (2014) and Jakhar et al. (2025). The increase yield of demonstration under improved technology was due to use of wilt resistant high yielding varieties, integrated pest management, integrated nutrient management, adopt line sowing method, applied soil test best fertilizer, seed treatment. Similarly, yield increments in CFLD of different crops were document by Dhaka et al., (2015); Jakhar et al. (2018); Chalie-U.R. et al. (2025) and Tiwari et al., (2024).


 
Extension and technology GAP
 
Yield of CFLD lentil and potential yield of the lentil was compared to determine the yield gaps which were further classified into extension and technology gap (Table 4). The extension gap is the difference between the demonstration yield and farmers yield. The average extension gap was observed (4.6,2.4 and 2.3 q/ha) during 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively and average extension gap observed was 3.1 q/ha. This emphasized the need to aware the farmers through different intervention method which was used during the demonstration. The technology gap is the ratio of potential yield of the variety to the demonstration yield of lentil. The technology gap in the demonstration yield was (2.2, 2.8 and 1.6 q/ha) during 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. The technology gap recorded may be attributed to the dissimilarity in the status of soil fertility, timely sowing and weather conditions. Similar findings were reported by Mitra and Samajdar (2010).


 
Technology index
 
The technology index shows the feasibility of the evolved technology in the farmer’s field. The lower value of technology index means higher the feasibility of the latest technology (Table 4). The technology index is (14.7, 18.9 and 10.7%) during 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively which is clearly showed the efficacy of the best performances of technical intervention. This will speed the adoption of demonstrated latest interventions to enhance the yield of lentil. Similar findings were reported by Kantwa et al., (2024).
 
Analysis of economic returns
 
The analysis of economic data in Table 5 expressed that the cost of indulging in the adoption of latest technology in lentil varied and was more profitable. As per the presented data in Table 5 showed high B:C ratio of demonstration plot was (2.73, 2.42 and 3.53) over the farmers plot (1.98, 2.00 and 3.03) during the 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. The average cost and net income (Rs 20076, 21046 and Rs 20348/ha), respectively over to farmer’s practice (Rs 18605, 19667 and Rs 18900/ha), respectively. Similar finding were reported by Singh et al., (2014) and Tomar, (2010). Hence, compatible B:C ratios vouched the economic viability of the technology and convinced the farmers of the utility of the latest technology. The above results were in agreement with the Raghav et al., (2020). The B:C ratio of demonstration plots under the latest interventions was higher than farmer’s practices may be due to the higher yield obtained from yielding variety RVG 202 under improved technologies compared to farmers practice. The similar trend was reported by Mokidue et al., (2011) and Anuratha et al. (2019).

The demonstration expressed the need to aware the farmers in adoption of latest technology to reduce the extension gaps through different technology transfer centers. Therefore, it is suggested that these factors may be taken into consideration to improve the scientific knowledge of the farmers.  Potential yield of improved variety was achieved by communicating scientific knowledge to the farmers, providing need based quality inputs in due time and proper and timely application of inputs. This is the best way to sustain the credibility and reliability of the technology among the farmers. It can be concluded that newly introduced variety of lentil along with latest package of practices performed well in the Ratlam district of Madhya Pradesh and adoption is also appreciable among the farmers.

We are grateful to National Food Security Mission- Pulses (NFSM-P), Department of Agriculture Cooperation, Government of India for grant-in-aid to implement the lentil enhancement project. We are also thankful to Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute Zone-IX, Jabalpur (M.P.) for providing fund and facilities during CFLD and farmers, who adopted the technologies and provided needed information.  

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.