Allelopathy prospective of oil seed crops for sustainable weed management- A review

Abstract

Weeds are a severe menace to crop cultivation as they interfere with crop growth and development and result in considerable loss in yield of oil seed crops. As a result, farmers have widely used synthetic herbicides for weed management. Using herbicides guides various environmental and health issues, and researchers have been exploring alternative environmentally friendly ways of controlling weeds. Among these, incorporating allelopathy as a tool in an integrated weed management approach could significantly bring down herbicide usage. Allelopathy refers to the influence of one plant on another in its surroundings or on associated microflora/microfauna through the release of allelochemicals that intervene with the growth of plants. In field crops, allelopathy can be applied through intercropping, crop rotation, cover crops, mulching and allelopathic water extracts to manage weeds. Research evidence indicates that oil seed crops possess potent allelo chemicals that have great potential to be utilized as natural herbicides. This review aims to outline oil seed crops allelopathy that releases effective allelo chemicals with the possibility of being used in oil seed crop cultivation. By applying the allelopathy principles, farmers can pursue environmentally friendly and sustainable weed control techniques and improve crop yield and quality.