Here is the English translation of the given content: "200 Questions on Aquatic Vegetable Production"

Author: Chen Qingsheng
Editor-in-Chief: Yang Jinmei
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-05-01
Features:
Content Summary
This book selects 11 main aquatic vegetable species, including lotus root, water bamboo, water chestnut, water caltrop, arrowhead, Chinese chestnut, water shield, water celery, water spinach, and water cress, and presents 200 technical Q&A on their growth environment, excellent varieties, production cultivation, and simple storage and processing. Using relatively popular and concise language, it introduces the new technologies and achievements in current aquatic vegetable production. The book is informative, engaging, adaptable, and highly readable, making it suitable for farmers with junior high school education or above. It can also serve as a reference for vegetable science and technology personnel and university teachers and students.
Excerpt:
2. What are the common characteristics of aquatic vegetables?
Most aquatic vegetables are native to the rainy tropical or subtropical regions of southern China. They share common ancestry in their phylogenetic development and exhibit the following common morphological and biological characteristics.
(1) They prefer waterlogged conditions and are intolerant of drought. During the growth period, they require a certain water layer, with relatively gentle fluctuations in water level, and cannot tolerate sudden surges or drops.
(2) Root hairs are (degenerated), and the root system is underdeveloped, resulting in weak absorption capacity. They thrive in deep, fertile, and humus-rich clay soil.
(3) Plant tissues are loose, with numerous air chambers, underdeveloped protective tissues, and weak stems, making them vulnerable to wind and waves.
(4) Their growth period is relatively long, usually exceeding five months. Except for water celery and water cress, which prefer cool conditions, most aquatic vegetables thrive in warm temperatures and must grow within the frost-free period.
(5) Most aquatic vegetables, except for water chestnut and Chinese chestnut, propagate asexually using vegetative organs such as bulbs, rhizomes, and underground stems. Generally, genetic variation is minimal, and varieties are relatively stable.
II. Lotus Root
3. What is the current production status and future prospects of lotus root?
Also known as lotus root or simply lotus, it is native to China and has a history of over 3,000 years. Globally, China is the largest producer of lotus root, followed by India and Japan, while the United States and the former Soviet Union have only limited cultivation. Currently, it is grown across multiple provinces in China, from Hainan Island in the south to Shaanxi and Hebei in the north, with a total cultivation area exceeding 600,000 mu. Among these regions, the Yangtze River Basin, particularly Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Hubei provinces, has the widest cultivation area, with Jiangsu alone accounting for over 200,000 mu annually. Famous varieties such as Suzhou flower lotus, Baoying tribute lotus, Fujian Jian lotus, and Hunan Xianglian are renowned both domestically and internationally. Lotus root ranks first among aquatic vegetables in terms of both variety diversity and cultivation area. In recent years, with improvements in variety breeding, cultivation techniques, and technologies such as rapid propagation and disease prevention, the production level of lotus root has significantly increased. The yield of lotus root has risen from 400–600 kg per mu before the 1980s to over 1,000 kg per mu, with the highest yields reaching 3,000 kg per mu. The yield of seed lotus has also increased from 30–40 kg per mu to over 50 kg per mu, with the highest reaching 120 kg per mu. Additionally, the export market for lotus root is performing well, with increasing quantities annually. For example, Baoying County in Jiangsu exports over 10,000 tons of salted lotus root each year. Therefore, with the further development and utilization of lake and wetland resources in China's water-rich areas and the deepening of reform and opening-up, the future prospects for lotus root production are vast.