Lucknow: The city based institute, National Botanical Research Institute (CSIR-NBRI) on Saturday unveiled the new variety “Lotus” flower, which blooms with 108 petals. The lotus named ‘NBRI Namoh 108’ is developed by the CSIR-NBRI, a premier plant-based multidisciplinary and state-of-the-art national research and development centre.
Dedicating to the nation the Namoh108 lotus variety and its products at NBRI, Lucknow, minister of state for science and technology Jitendra Singh said, “Considering the religious importance of the ‘lotus flower’ and ‘the digit 108’, this combination gives an important identity to this variety.”
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The Namoh 108 lotus variety flowers from March to December and is rich in nutrients. This is the first lotus variety whose genome is completely sequenced for its characteristics.
An apparel made from lotus fibre and perfume ‘Frotus’, extracted from lotus flowers and developed by the NBRI under the lotus research programme in collaboration with FFDC, Kannauj were also released.
The minister also launched the Lotus mission and said that the is being undertaken in mission mode like the other priority schemes, including National Honey and Bee Mission (NHBM), National Bamboo Mission (NBM), National Food Security Mission (NFSM), National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF), National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), Gokul Mission, Blue Revolution, Mission Shakti – an integrated women empowerment programme and the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) etc.
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“The Government has now initiated the Lotus Mission after the stupendous success of aroma mission,” he said.
Various types of herbal colours for different applications, extracted by NBRI from flower offerings made at temples were also released. These herbal colours can also be used for dying silk and cotton cloths. Along with it, a new variety of Aloe vera named ‘NBRI-Nihar’, a clonal selection having approximately 2.5 times high gel yield in comparison to Aloe vera was also dedicated to the nation.
As per the field observations, ‘NBRI-Nihar’ is found least affected against bacterial and fungal diseases. Two herbal products namely ‘Herbal Cold Drops’ for curing common cough and cold & Herbal Anti Dandruff Hair Oil, made by Marc Laboratories, were also launched by the minister.
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A database of 500 raw drug repositories of the institute developed as per Indian pharmacopoeia standards and a book on roses in CSIR-NBRI garden, comprising the details of elite varieties conserved at the botanic garden were also launched.
On the occasion, CSIR-NBRI & M/s Nucleome Informatics, Hyderabad, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for collaborative research on cotton. The CSIR-NBRI digital herbarium, a national repository of flora specimens of India, was also launched to easily disseminate information among the public and a book on ‘plant resources of Uttar Pradesh and a check list’ and ‘e-flora of Uttar Pradesh’ were also released. The e-flora and book provide a list and information of more than 5,000 plants of Uttar Pradesh.
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The CSIR-NBRI also unveiled Goutout, a supplement for gout/gouty arthritis, and a nutri-bar for army personnel deployed in high-altitudes. Director of NBRI, Ajit Kumar Shasany was also present at the event.
