Allelopathy in Weeds and Crops: Myth vs. Facts
2006
- UW-Madison Dept. of Horticulture
Project Media
Allelopathy is defined as the effect of one plant on another through the release of a chemical compound into the environment (Bhowmik and Inderjit, 2003). Allelopathic compounds, often considered plant-produced herbicides, can inhibit growth of nearby plants of the same and/or other species. The observation of allelopathic plant suppression is not new. Theophrastus observed that chickpea reduced nearby weed growth as early as 300 B.C., and Plinus Secundus (1 A.D.) reported that corn was “scorched” by chickpea, barley, and bitter vetch (Singh et al., 2001). While the concept of allelopathy is not original, effective demonstration of allelopathy on plant growth and the subsequent reliable application in agricultural pest management have been relatively minimal.