Screening of Early Flowering Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) Cultivars and Effects of Different Cultivars on Flowering Period

Abstract

Flowering time is an important trait that determines the breeding process of ornamental plants. The flowering period of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) is mainly concentrated in June–August. During this period, the weather is hot and there are few tourists, which made many lotus scenic spots difficult to operate. People have a strong demand for early flowering lotus cultivars. In this paper, 30 lotus cultivars with high ornamental value were selected as materials and their phenological periods were observed for two consecutive years in 2019 and 2020. A number of cultivars with early flowering potential and stable flowering periods, such as ‘Fenyanzi’, ‘Chengshanqiuyue’, ‘Xianghumingyue’ and ‘Wuzhilian’, were screened by K-Means clustering method. The relationship between accumulated temperature and flowering time of 19 lotus cultivars at different growth stages was analyzed. It was found that lotus cultivars with early flowering traits could adapt well to the changes of early environmental temperature and were not affected by low temperature. On the other hand, by analyzing the relationship between different traits and flowering time of three typical cultivars, such as rhizome weight, phenological period, etc., it shows that the nutrient content of the rhizome and the early morphology of plants will affect the flowering time. These results provide a reference for the formation of a systematic lotus early flowering cultivar breeding mechanism and the establishment of a perfect flowering regulation technology system, which can further improve the ornamental value of lotus and promote industrial development.

Two Growing-Season Warming Partly Promoted Growth but Decreased Reproduction and Ornamental Value of Impatiens oxyanthera

“…Although intrinsic climate adaptations may buffer species from local extinction to varying degrees [ 8 , 9 ], a large body of research suggests that many species are at risk of becoming extinct as a result of climate change [ 10 , 11 , 12 ] and that this risk increases with warming [ 13 , 14 , 15 ]. It can be predicted that climate warming will threaten the survival and reproduction of plants, including wild flowers [ 16 ], and thus determine their ornamental value because weather or climate factors (air temperature, precipitation) affect the ornamental traits of plants [ 17 , 18 ]. Therefore, studies on the effects of warming on the growth and reproduction of wild flowers can help to predict population dynamics and distribution and provide a theoretical basis for the development of rational species conservation strategies under future climate change.…”