The search for sustainable resources remains a subject of global interest. Calcium acetate used in many fields was prepared using waste scallop shell as a raw material, and its physicochemical properties were investigated. The waste scallop shells were transformed to calcium acetate compounds by reactions with four acetic acid concentrations at ambient temperature until the completely dried powder is obtained. The maximum yield of 87% with short reaction time at a low temperature was observed in the reaction of 60%w/w acetic acid with scallop shells. Thermal transformation reactions of all prepared calcium acetate samples revealed temperature conditions for heating to produce other advanced materials. FTIR and XRD results confirmed the purity and solid phase of all prepared calcium acetate samples, and they were compared with those of literatures and found to be well consistent. The obtained timber-like particles have different sizes depending on the acetic acid concentration. This work reports an easy and low-cost method with no environmental effect to produce cheap calcium products to be used in the industry.

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We studied the abscission of floral buds and open flowers in cut Dendrobium inflorescences. Abscission of floral buds was high and sensitive to ethylene in all cultivars studied. Many open flowers abscised in most cultivars, but cv. Willie exhibited only small amount of floral fall and cv. Miss Teen none. Applied ethylene (0.4 μL L–1 for 24 h at 27°C) greatly hastened abscission of open flowers in most cultivars, but had only a small effect in cv. Willie and no effect in cv. Miss Teen. Flower fall, if it occurred, was completely inhibited by 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), showing that it was regulated by endogenous ethylene. Ethylene production from the abscission zones was low in all cultivars studied. In cv. Miss Teen the abscission zone changed from highly ethylene sensitive to completely insensitive in ~30 h, coinciding with floral opening. Removal of the floral buds somewhat reduced abscission in open flowers, but the lack of open flower abscission in cv. Miss Teen could not be explained by higher bud fall. The ovary did not grow in the (unpollinated) flowers, showing that lack of abscission in cvv. Willie and Miss Teen was not due to parthenocarpy. Flower removal in cv. Miss Teen had no effect on ethylene sensitivity of the abscission of the remaining pedicel. However, removal of the distal 2 cm of the 3-cm-long pedicels dramatically increased ethylene sensitivity. This suggests that the pedicel is important for the low ethylene insensitivity of abscission, in this cultivar. It is concluded that the abscission zones in the cvv. Willie and Miss Teen, in contrast with the other cultivars investigated, became rapidly insensitive to ethylene at the time of flower opening. At least part of the ethylene sensitivity in Miss Teen seems to be due to a factor in the pedicel.

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