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Effect of Saponins on the Growth and Activity of Rhizosphere Bacteria

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Saponins Used in Food and Agriculture

Abstract

Saponins are a group of steroid or triterpenoid glycosides and related chemicals (sapogenins: non-glycosylated) found in roots, shoots, seeds, and flowers of many plant species. Saponins are of agronomic interest because of allelopathic interference with plant growth (Oleszek and Jurzysta, 1987; Waller et al., 1993). Saponins can be released into the soil by secretion from roots and/or leaching from living or decaying plant material (Mishustin and Naumova, 1955; Oleszek and Jurzysta, 1987). Conservation management practices designed to maintain plant residues on the soil surface such as the use of cover crops and reduced tillage are rapidly being adopted by growers; thus the impact of these compounds and other natural products on crop productivity and soil and rhizosphere microbial ecology warrants study.

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© 1996 Plenum Press, New York

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Zablotowicz, R.M., Hoagland, R.E., Wagner, S.C. (1996). Effect of Saponins on the Growth and Activity of Rhizosphere Bacteria. In: Waller, G.R., Yamasaki, K. (eds) Saponins Used in Food and Agriculture. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 405. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0413-5_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0413-5_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-8041-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0413-5

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