Coumarin effects on Glycine max hypocotyl explants

Coumarin induced root formation and stimulated fresh weight production in hypocotyl explants of Glycine max L. cultured in vitro. All stimulatory effects caused by coumarin were induced within a relatively narrow range of concentrations between 1–500 μM, yielding optimum dose response curves. When coumarin was combined with kinetin fresh weight increased considerably, at optimum concentrations to a level almost as high as that obtained with NAA (10 μM) and kinetin (10 μM). Root formation was almost completely inhibited when kinetin was added in combination with coumarin. NAA + coumarin had small stimulatory effects on fresh weight. but were inhibitory in root formation. The frequency of rooting per explant, texture and pigmentation were also affected by different treatments.