Precision Calcium for Strawberries: Smarter Nutrition, Longer Shelf Life

Albina: A Functional Fertiliser for Sustainable Strawberry Quality

Calcium is one of the most important nutrients for strawberry quality, affecting fruit firmness, shelf life, and resistance to softening and disease. Yet delivering calcium where it is needed—into the fruit itself—is notoriously difficult. Most calcium products fail to improve fruit quality because they rely on a plant process that is compromised as fruit matures: auxin-driven calcium transport.

The Problem: Calcium Uptake Declines as Strawberries Ripen

Strawberries absorb calcium primarily through a process known as polar auxin transport (PAT), which facilitates the movement of calcium into actively growing tissues. Early in development, auxin levels are high, helping calcium enter young fruit. But as the strawberry ripens, auxin levels drop, and so does calcium uptake—just when firmness and structural integrity become most important.

This physiological limitation explains why conventional calcium foliar sprays often show inconsistent or negligible benefits. Calcium may be present on the surface or in the leaves, but it cannot enter the mature fruit where it’s needed to reinforce cell walls and reduce softening.

The Albina Advantage: Overcoming the Auxin Barrier

Albina from Levity Crop Science is a functional fertiliser that uses LoCal technology—a proprietary Membrane Calcium Transport Stimulant (MCAS)—to bypass the auxin requirement. This allows Albina to deliver calcium directly into fruit cells even close to harvest.

Unlike conventional calcium, Albina stimulates calcium absorption by mature fruit tissue, helping to maintain firmness and extend shelf life. This has been confirmed both in laboratory testing and commercial trials.

Research Results: Measurable Improvements

1. Post-Harvest studies:

Researchers evaluated the effect of post-harvest dipping treatments on firmness retention. Three treatments were compared:

• Untreated fruit
• Calcium-only treatment
• Albina (Calcium + MCAS)

Post-Harvest Strawberry Firmness (g firmness at Day 4):

Only Albina significantly improved firmness over untreated fruit, showing clear benefit from MCAS technology.

In a separate glasshouse trial, Albina applied during fruit development led to firmer berries both at harvest and after cold storage. These results were consistent across two trial repetitions.

2. US Field Trial:

An independent replicated 2016 field study in Oxnard, California (cv. Portola) tested Albina against untreated and standard calcium programs.

Albina-treated plants outperformed all others, producing firmer, more marketable fruit while using only a third of the calcium dose compared to the standard program (Marks et al, 2019).

Comparative Summary: Albina vs. Standard Calcium

Calcium has never been able to influence firmness and shelf life close to or post-harvest until now. These findings are groundbreaking—not just for strawberry growers but for the entire supply chain. Albina opens new possibilities for reducing waste and delivering higher quality fruit from farm to market.” Levity Research Team.

Sustainability Impact

Reducing food waste is one of the most impactful ways to cut agricultural carbon emissions. Strawberries, being highly perishable, contribute significantly to postharvest food loss worldwide.

• Estimated global strawberry loss annually: 1.8 million tonnes
• Carbon footprint of that waste: 3.24 million tonnes CO₂e
• Potential CO₂e savings with Albina: 486,000 tonnes annually

By extending shelf life and reducing spoilage, Albina offers not just quality and yield benefits—but also a tangible environmental gain. Its ability to cut waste by 15% translates into meaningful reductions in both food loss and greenhouse gas emissions.

Albina could prevent nearly half a million MT of CO2 emissions a year based on a conservative estimate of a 15% reduction in wasted fruit.

Conclusion

For strawberry growers and marketers, fruit firmness is critical for both pack-out and shelf life. Conventional calcium fertilisers often fail to deliver results because they can’t enter the fruit once auxin levels decline. Albina changes that equation.

Using LoCal™ MCAS technology, Albina enables calcium uptake into mature strawberry fruit, resulting in:

• Firmer fruit at harvest and post-harvest
• Reduced softening in storage
• More consistent performance than conventional calcium

Albina offers a low-input, high-impact strategy to improve strawberry quality and reduce waste.

References: Dodgson, J.; Weston, A.K.; Marks, D.J. Tomato Firmness and Shelf-Life Increased by Application of Stimulated Calcium. Crops 2023, 3, 251–265. https://doi.org/10.3390/crops3040023

Marks, D.J.; Weston, A.K.; Wilkinson, S. Calcium Absorption in Strawberry: The Link Between Polar-Auxin Transport, Ripening, and Fruit Firmness. Levity Crop Science, 2023.