Enhancement of Stem Firmness in Standard Chrysanthemum 'Baekma' by Foliar Spray of Liquid Calcium Compounds

This study was conducted to enhance the stem firmness of standard chrysanthemum 'Baekma' bred in Korea for commercial quality improvement and inhibition of stem breaking during transportation through foliar spray with calcium agents. Calcium agent screening 'Baekma' was examined using CaCl₂ㆍ2H₂O, Ca(NO₃)₂ㆍ4H₂O, and OS-Ca (natural liquid calcium compounds extracted from oyster shell) depending on each concentration (0, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, and 1.0%, respectively). All calcium agents sprayed with 1.0% caused chemical injury such as stem bending or leaf burn. OS-Ca also showed more sensitive response to chemical injury than the other calcium agents because OS-Ca was absorbed very well by 'Baekma' leaves. Maximum stem firmness measured during the final harvest was greater in OS-Ca than in the other calcium agents. Especially, maximum stem firmness was greatest in 0.01% OS-Ca. However, elastic strength and maximum bending stress were greater in 0.001% OS-Ca than in the others. Thus, OS-Ca ranged from 0.005 to 0.05%, which did not show any chemical injury, was finally selected as the first candidate for hardening the stem of 'Baekma'. The next experiment using OS-Ca was conducted with the concentrations of 0, 0.005, 0.01, and 0.05%, respectively. From the results, 0.05% OS-Ca showed better plant growth and parameters such as plant height, stem diameter (upper and middle part), the number of leaves, and dry weights of each part than the other concentrations of OS-Ca and control. As for stem firmness depending on OS-Ca concentration, the Ca content within stem, maximum firmness, elastic strength, and maximum bending stress of stem in 'Baekma' sprayed with 0.05% OS-Ca showed the highest values among all the treatments and it turned out to be very high level of significance between control and OS-Ca treatments. However, the area and percentage of the inside cavity within horizontal stem section in 'Baekma' did not show any significance between any treatments including control. Thus, stem firmness of 'Baekma' did not show any correlation with the inside cavity area of stem. In conclusion, we recommend foliar sprays with 0.05% OS-Ca at vegetative growth stage to enhance stemfirmness of 'Baekma' during transportation.