OMEX USA - 7

Calcium and strawberries,
why so erratic?
By Dr. David Marks
Calcium can improve firmness and quality but is poorly absorbed by maturing soft fruit. Most
growers know that calcium is important for soft fruit, as it can improve cell wall strength,
which has a positive effect on shelf life, firmness and ability to withstand diseases. However,
when you look at the scientific evidence it becomes clear that the calcium applied to crops
like strawberries does not always end up in the fruit. Calcium is poorly absorbed by maturing
strawberry fruit therefore a lot of the calcium farmers apply to their crops is wasted as ripening
fruit are not able to absorb it.
So why is it the case that calcium
absorption is so erratic? Calcium
absorption in strawberry fruit is
strongly linked to the transport
of auxin, a plant hormone. In
strawberries auxins in the achene
(the seed) are transported into the
developing fruit, allowing the fruit to
absorb calcium. However ripening
is triggered by cessation of auxin
transport into the fruit, so as the
fruit starts to turn red the ability to
absorb calcium rapidly declines.
Red strawberries have very little
auxin, and cannot absorb any
calcium that is applied to them. So,
when crops are sprayed with foliar
calcium, the leaves and green fruit
will absorb it, but maturing fruits
will not. Usually it is exactly the fruit
that can't absorb the calcium that
farmers are targeting, in order to
improve firmness and post-harvest
shelf life. This is why results from
conventional calcium fertilizers are
so erratic, sometimes the fruit can't
absorb calcium into fruit and the
input is wasted.
When you understand what causes
problems with firmness (inability
to absorb calcium) then you can
develop smarter ways of supplying
it. I have been developing chemistry
that helps calcium absorption for
many years, the more we study the
better we get at improving it. My
research focuses on understanding
the link between polar auxin
transport, and calcium absorption.
By stimulating the pumps that are
normally triggered by polar auxin
transport, calcium can be absorbed
by fruit in the absence of auxins.
We use this science to make better
calcium fertilizers at OMEX®
.
OMEX's new product Cell Power®
Calcium Gold and Cell Power®
Calcium Platinum for improving
fruit firmness uses Levity's
pioneering chemistry, to stimulate
calcium absorption into ripening
fruit, where conventional products
cannot. It can help soft fruit
producers get firmness, fruit set,
shelf-life to higher standards using
very low inputs.
To develop fertilizers that work
better we must first understand
what farmers need, then look at
the crop and understand what is
causing the problem, finally we
can then apply science to produce
technology that provides solutions
for farmers. When growers
use OMEX's new products Cell
Power®
Calcium Gold and Cell
Power® Calcium Platinum they
will see good improvements over
conventional products.
OMEX
7

OMEX USA

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