Chapter 1. Allelopathy and Allelochemicals

NARWAL, S. S.; SAMPIETRO, D. A.

Isolation, Identification and Characterization of Allelochemicals/Natural Products

Science Publishers, Inc.

Lugar: Enfield, USA; Año: 2009; p. 3 - 5

Allelopathy refers to any process involving secondary metabolites produced by plants, microorganism, viruses and fungi that influence the growth and development of agricultural and biological systems. It has been established that allelopathy offers great potential to (a) increase agricultural production (food grains, vegetables, fruits and forestry), (b) decrease harmful effects of modern agricultural practices [multiple cropping, leaching losses from N fertilizers, indiscriminate use of pesticides (weedicides, fungicides, insecticide and nematicides), tolerant/resistant biotypes in pests] on soil health/productivity and on environment and (c) maintain soil productivity and a pollution free environment for our future generations. It is likely that in the near future allelopathy will be used in crop production, crop protection, agroforestry and agrohorticultural practices in developed and developing countries. Allelopathy may become one of the strategic sciences to reduce the environmental pollution and to increase agricultural production in sustainable agriculture of the 21st century. Allelopathy provides the basis for sustainable agriculture, hence, currently allelopathy research is being done in most countries worldwide and is receiving more attention from agricultural and bioscientists. Allelopathy is a new field of science and the term ‘Allelopathy’ was coined by Prof. Hans Molisch, a German plant physiologist in 1937. Therefore, till now there is no comprehensive book on Methodology of Allelopathy Research and is causing problems to researchers working in underdeveloped/third world countries, in small towns without library facilities. Therefore, to make available the standard methods for conducting allelopathy research independently, this multivolume book has been planned. Since allelopathy is a multi-disciplinary area of research, individual volumes have been planned for each discipline.