The vase life of gerbera is affected by the hardness of the scape. However, although hardening of the cell wall is thought to be caused by calcium ions binding with pectin, the effect of calcium on the pectin fractions in the scape of gerbera has not yet been described. Therefore, this study assessed the calcium and pectin contents of the gerbera scape during bending. The scape of the gerbera cultivar ‘Harmony’ mostly e xhibited b ending i n the S1 and S 2 sections, and the bent scape had poor hardness compared with a normal, unbent scape. The calcium contents of the S1 and S2 sections of the bent scape were 2.9 mg·L-1 and 2.6 mg·L-1 lower than that of the normal scape. Furthermore, the total pectin contents were also generally lower in t he b ent scape, p articularly in t he S 1 section.

• Ji Won Park(Department of Environmental Horticulture, The University of Seoul)
• Jin Won Kim(1Department of Environmental Horticulture, The University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea 2Natural Science Research Institute, The University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea)
• Wan Soon Kim(1Department of Environmental Horticulture, The University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea 2Natural Science Research Institute, The University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea) Corresponding author