A RESEARCH REPORT ON SELECTIVE BREEDING OF NEW LOTUS VARIETIES

The lotus is one of famous freshwater flowering plants in China. From 1979 to 1982, the author of this paper collected the resource of lotus cultivar and systematized it,and resorted to the methods of selective breeding,cross-breeding and radioactive breeding, etc, finally bred 37 new varieties of lotus. The new varieties are novel in shapes, and fresh in colours.In the article, the author sets a standard to judge the new varieties of lotus for pot culture, and points out that selective breeding isa simple and easy method.The eultivating experiments have proved that some of the new varieties of lotus suit for culture in pond, some in pot. And some have been popularized to culture.