Growth Control and Biophoton Radiation by Plant Hormones in Red Bean

Abstract

The growth kinetics of seeds of red beans ( Phaseolus angularis ) was investigated by externally adding various hormones (gibberellin (GA 3 )), abscisic acid (ABA) and indole acetic acid (IAA)) during germination. For root growth of red beans, GA 3 always acted as an activator while ABA as an inhibitor. IAA was both an activator and an inhibitor depending on its concentration. Root growth could be described by a stochastic logistic equation. The hormone concentration dependences of coefficients of the equation were determined. The hormone influences on biophoton radiation were also investgated. With GA 3 , the intensity of spontaneous bioluminescence increased with time and showed two strong radiation periods, in which strong localization of bioluminescence was induced. However with ABA and IAA, weaker bioluminescences were observed. The location of the strong radiation induced by GA 3 was determined as the growing point near a root cap, by use of a two-dimensional photon counting system.