Distributions of Saponin Constituents in Some Varieties of Soybean Plant

Abstract

Saponins are bioactive substances with physiological activities and bitter taste. We investigated the distributions of saponins in soybean plants. Acetyl-soyasaponins A₁ and A₄ occur only in seed hypocotyls of soybean plants. Soyasaponin I was detected in all organs of the plant. However, soyasaponin I levels in plant showed very heterogenous distributions, for example, stem and main root had very low soyasaponin I levels, but nodule and leaf had higher levels.