Caffeic acid affects early growth, and morphogenetic response of hypocotyl cuttings of mung bean (Phaseolus aureus)

Caffeic acid (CA) is one of the most common cinnamic acids ubiquitously present in plants and implicated in a variety of interactions including allelopathy among plants and microbes. This study investigated the possible interference of CA with root growth and the process of rhizogenesis in hypocotyl cuttings of mung bean (Phaseolus aureus=Vigna radiata). Results indicated that CA (0–1000 μM) significantly suppressed root growth of mung bean, and impaired adventitious root formation and root length in the mung bean hypocotyl cuttings. Further investigations into the role of CA in hampering root formation indicated its interference with the biochemical processes involved in rooting process at the three stages – root initiation (third day; RI), root expression (fifth day; RE), and post-expression (seventh day; PE) – of rhizogenesis. CA caused significant changes in the activities of proteases, peroxidases (PODs), and polyphenol oxidases (PPOs) during root development and decreased the content of total endogenous phenolics (TP) in the hypocotyl cuttings. The enhanced activity of PODs and PPOs, though, relates to lignification and/or phenolic metabolism during rhizogenesis; yet their protective role to CA-induced stress, especially during the PE phase, is not ruled out. At 1000 μM CA, where rooting was significantly affected, TP content was very high during the RI phase, thus indicating its non-utilization. The study concludes that CA interferes with the rooting potential of mung bean hypocotyl cuttings by altering the activities of PODs and PPOs and the endogenous TP content that play a key role in rhizogenesis.