The spent medium after somatic embryo production has been analysed with respect to various enzymes, arabinogalactan protein and sandal oil. Apart from various hydrolases, a high level of peroxidase activity (32 200 U/ltre medium, with specific activity of 1.3417 U/mug protein) has been obtained. The peroxidase with an optimum activity at 50 degreesC was reasonably stable at 70 degreesC. The enzyme was active in the pH range 5-11, with an optimum at pH 6. The enzyme showed a K-m of 10.91 mM and V-max of 14.88 muM/min. Arabinogalactan protein (26-35 mg/l) has also been recovered from the extracellular medium. Sandal oil could not be detected by thin layer chromatography in the spent biomass or somatic embryos or the cell free medium, probably indicating its very low concentration. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.