Role of allelopathy in weed management

Weeds are a severe threat to sustainable crop production as yield losses caused by weeds exceed the losses from all other biotic and abiotic stresses. Although chemical herbicides provide effective weed control in field crops, environmental and health concerns are pressing the researchers to explore alternate means of weed control. Allelopathy, a naturally occurring ecological phenomenon of interference among organisms, offers a pragmatic, economical, effective and environmental friendly approach for weed management in field crops. The phenomenon of allelopathy may be used in weed management as mix cropping/intercropping, use of surface mulchs, soil incorporation of plant residues, application of allelopathic aqueous extracts alone, and/or combined with lower herbicide doses and crop rotation. Use of biotechnology and conventional breeding may be helpful in developing genotypes with strong allelopathic potential. In this chapter, experiences and perspectives of using allelopathy for weed management are discussed.