This volume, the first in a series on the lactic acid bacteria, offers a
series of reviews by carefully selected experts drawn from several
countries. Although there have been a number of excellent conferences on
the lactic acid bacteria in recent years there is no publication which
brings together the topics explored so thoroughly in the present text.
Several topics will have particular interest to the agriculture
industry, including spoilage in sugar productions, lactic acid bacteria
in plant silage and conversation/upgrading of other materials for use in
animal feeding, coffee, and cocoa fermentations and the role of
sporolactobacilli. A review of factors governing the competitive
behavior of lactic acid bacteria in mixed cultures ties together a
number of the themes developed in other chapters.