Calcium with transport stimulant improves firmness of strawberries

2025

Authors

Jolyon Dodgson, Anna K Weston and David J Marks
Levity Crop Science, Rural Business Centre, Myerscough College, Bilsborrow, Preston, PR3 0RY, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) is a valuable crop, but susceptible to losses during harvest, transport and storage due to it being a soft fruit. Strawberry has a short shelf-life, which puts pressure on growers to harvest the crop quickly. Calcium has a key role in maintaining the strength of plant cell walls. Ca is transported through the plant, but not to the fruit once it has started to ripen, so it is difficult to increase the Ca in the cell walls in fruit. This work used a calcium transport stimulant (MCAS) to increase the firmness of treated strawberry fruit. A non-destructive penetrometer, Durofel (CTIFL Copa Technologie, Saint Etienne du Gres, France) with a bolt diameter of 8 mm, was used to test the firmness. Harvested strawberries (var. Malling Centenary) were obtained from a UK supermarket and misted with 7.5% Ca with and without MCAS (5 ml containing 0.75 g Ca). The fruit treated with Ca with MCAS was significantly firmer for 7 d after treatment, than the untreated or calcium without MCAS. Then, Ca with MCAS (Albina, Levity Crop Science) was applied foliarly (7 I ha-7 in 200 I water applied four times giving 0.7 kg Ca ha-7) to strawberry plants (var. Elsanta), grown in pots containing reduced peat compost, and compared to untreated. The Ca with MCAS treated fruit was significantly firmer at harvest and after 3 d of storage, when compared to the untreated fruit. This work has shown that small amounts of Ca with MCAS can increase the firmness of strawberries when a similar amount of Ca without the MCAS did not, and that foliar application of Ca with MCAS during plant growth results in significantly firmer fruit after harvest. This will enable growers to produce strawberries with a longer shelf-life and that require fewer nutrient inputs.

Keywords

Strawberry; Fragaria x ananassa; calcium transport stimulant; MCAS; foliar; post-harvest

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