Lotus is an aquatic perennial plant that grows in ponds and slow-moving rivers. It has broad, floating leaves and fragrant flowers that bloom above the water's surface. The two main species are Nelumbo lutea, found in North America, and Nelumbo nucifera, found in Southeast Asia and Australia. Lotus has cultural and religious significance in many places and all parts of the plant can be eaten or used for medicinal purposes. It requires warm temperatures and full sun exposure to thrive in ponds or containers.

1. LOTUS
ANDREW L MYRTHONG
2014-12-126

2. Classification
Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Proteales
Family : Nelumbonaceae
Genus : Nelumbo
Species : nucifera

3. Introduction
• Synonym: Ambal, Thamarai, Padma, Ambuja, Pankaja,
Sacred Water lily, Bean of India, Kamal, Kanwal
• It is an aquatic perennial
• National flower of India
• Symbol of purity, holiness and immortality
• Beneficial (medicinal) and cultural (religious) uses
• Nelumbo is a ‘ceylonese’ term

4. Description
• It has broad flattening leaves and bright fragrant flowers
• Leaves and flowers remains afloat
• Long stems that contain air spaces
• Petals boat shaped and overlaps in a symmetrical pattern
• Rhizomes function as the roots and spreads out horizontally
through the mud below the water
• Leaves are 50cm in diameter

5. • Leaf production maximum in rainy (June-Aug) and minimum
in winter (Dec-Feb)
(Minimol, J. S. 2004)
• Flowers are single, fragrant, showy, magnificent
• Velvety white, cream, greenish white, yellow, pink, rose, red,
mauve etc.
• Seeds are hard and dark brown

6. Species
Two important species:
 Nelumbo lutea: New World (North America)
 Nelumbo nucifera: Old World (SE Asia and Australia)
Other species:
 N. flavescens - strongly scented lemon yellow
 N. alba - bold and beautiful

7. Fig: Nelumbo lutea Fig: Nelumbo nucifera

8. Varieties
• Grossherzog Ernst Ludwig (N. flavescens x N. osiris)
• N. n. var. alba grandiflora (syn. N. grandiflora)
• N. n. var. alba striata (syn. Empress)
• N. n. var. alba plena (syn. Shiroman) – cut flower
• Angel Wings – tulip shaped
• Chawan basu – tub culture
• Charles Thomas – small tubs and pools
• Maggie Belle Slocum – tub culture
• Momo Botan – small tubs and pools
• Mrs. Perry D. Slocum

9. Agroclimatic condition
• Temperature above 200C
• Altitude upto 2000 m above MSL
• Long day length accelerates rhizome elongation and
upright leaf production
• Short day length promotes rhizome enlargement and
inhibits upright leaf production

10. Propagation
• Seeds and rhizomes
• Seeds have extremely high viability (1000-2000 years)
• Due to the hard shells and nearly impermeable seed coat
• Scarification (sand paper rub) and stratification (in H2SO4)
• Feb-Mar (tropical & subtropical) and April-May
(temperate)
• Transplanted at 2 – leaf stage (10 DAG)
• 10 – 12 kg seeds per hectare
• Highly heterozygous

12. Rhizomes
• Three noded tip portion is the best
propagule (Minimol, J. S. 2004)
• Planted horizontally 7-10cm deep
• Fill the pools with clay soil and
FYM @ 3:1 to a depth of 45-50 cm
• 100g neem cake and diammonium
phosphate
• Water should not be less than 30cm

13. Culture
• Damp soil with pH 5.5 – 7.0
• Open and sunny situation
• Sunlight at least 6 hours a day
• Best time for planting is April
• Place a stone over the rhizome to keep it securely in position
• Spacing: 2-3m (R – R) and 0.7-1m (P – P)
• Plant density: 4,115 to 7,936 plants/ha

14. Fertilization
• Mature crop require more K and less N
• Careful fertilization of young plants to prevent burning
• Doses maybe split in 3-4 applications
• In India media supplemented with
• FYM @ 5kg/m2
• Neem cake @ 100g/m2
• Diammonium phosphate @ 25g/m2 and
• MoP @ 25g/m2 as basal dose 15 days prior to planting
(Goel et al., 2001)

15. Container management
• Round containers preferable
• Fabric pond pots or no hole
plastic pots is recommended
• Three - fifth of the pots filled
with rich and wet pond soil
• Irrigate after 2 days when the
plants have firmly attached to
the mud

16. Pond management
• Water management issues (acquisition, movement and storage)
• Relatively flat, expansive and close to a reliable source of a large volume of fresh water
• Size depends upon water availability
• Soil capacity to retain water
• If not plastic liners should be used
• Shallow ponds with soil depth 30cm to 1m and surface water range 10cm to 1.5m
• Taro, sweet potato and yam bean are good companion/rotation crops

17. Daily care
• Maintain water temperature at 21oC or 70oF
• Provide as much sun as possible
• Remove any foliage that may block the sun
• Prune as and when necessary -snip away yellow leaves
• Fertilize once in two weeks
• Reposition the pots before the first frost
• Lifted rhizomes/tubers can stored in a cool frost free location until
late spring

18. Weeds
Water hyacinths, Water lettuce, Azolla, Typha and Cyperus
papyrus
• Simazine @ 3-6 ppm or Monuron @ 4-12 ppm
• KMnO4 to control azolla
• CuSO4 used if no livestock present

19. Diseases
Lotus leaf spot(Cercospora sp.)
• Removed affected leaves and burnt
• Spray mild solution of Bordeaux mixture @ 2-3 days
interval
Phytophthora root rot
• Uproot affected plants along with adhering soil and
destroy

20. Insect-Pests
Beetles (Galerucella nymphaeae), aphids and caterpillars
• Solution containing Bt parasitise and kill the larva
• Jetting the foliage with fresh water to dislodge them in
water to be swallowed by inhabitants of the water

21. Precautions
• If growing from seed, do not fertilize during the first year of growth
• Begin fertilizing after a lotus tuber sprouts six leaves
• Stop fertilizing in the middle of July - to prepare plants for dormancy
• Avoid liquid pesticides as they burn the leaves
• Avoid excessive fertilization
• To help to prevent mildew and rotting, store them in living
sphagnum moss
• Leaves and tubers to be consumed only after cooking

22. Harvesting
• Depends on environmental conditions
• Leaves and flowers collected in April
• Seeds are collected in August
• Rhizomes are harvested after 120 days in warm climates
and after 150-180 days in cold climates
• Water is drained and rhizomes are dug
• Mechanical harvesting by using a backhoe with a
specialised fork

24. Uses
Lotus flowers, seeds, young leaves and rhizomes are all
edible
• Seeds can be eaten as nuts
• The tuberous roots are baked as sweet potatoes
• Leaves are eaten like spinach
• Rhizomes maybe roasted, pickled, fried as chips
• Honey collected is used as a tonic (Padmammadjhu or
Makaranda) to treat eye disorders

25. • The dried seed heads, for decorative purposes and for dried
flower arrangement
• A unique fabric from the lotus plant fibres is produced in
Myanmar
• Flowers are used for the production of perfume
• Anti diabetic, anti obesity, anti depressant, anti
inflammation, insomnia, diarrhoea, fever, haemorrhoids
and leprosy