Role of Allelopathy in Weed Management for Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Use of smothering crops as allelopathic strategies could provide weed control, both in summer and winter crops. Although, these crops do not provide complete weed control they can manage weed population at economic threshold levels. This may either eliminate or minimize the use of present herbicides and thus overcome all the major problems associated with herbicides. These studies have shown the potential of weed control of summer and winter crops. Weed suppression in summer crops followed this order: pearl millet > maize > sorghum > cluster bean > cowpea and the order in winter crops was: Egyptian clover > oat > lentil > wheat. Studies with accessions of pearl millet and Brassica spp. (B. juncea, B. napus, B. carinata) exhibited greater variability in their weed smothering ability. Domesticated plants may offer a great scope for selection of weed smothering spp. In the promising crops, their varieties may be screened for smothering potential. The genes responsible for production of smothering allelochemicals may be identified and possibly transferred to develop new transgenic varieties of same or other crops using techniques of biotechnology so that plants could produce their own herbicides.