What is Allelopathy?
It is a sub-domain of chemical ecology that deals with the impact of hazardous chemicals (called allelochemicals or allelochemicals) released by some plants to destroy the plants in their vicinity. These chemicals alter the genetic structure of the neighboring plants to cease their growth which is ultimately fatal for them. This phenomenon is common in plants as well as organisms. It can be observed in plant-plant interaction, plant-microbe interaction, and plant-animal interaction as well.
Allelopathy Meaning
Allelopathy is a biological phenomenon where certain plants release chemicals into the environment, affecting the growth and development of neighboring plants, either inhibiting or promoting their growth.
Allelopathic plants can hide their allelochemicals in their flowers, stems, leaves, or roots. However, leaves are the most favorable places to store the allelochemicals by allelopathic plants. When the leaves fall, these allelochemicals are released to nearby places which are toxic to the other plants. In many cases, the trees exploit allelopathy to defend their territory by using their roots to draw more water from the earth, to inhibit the growth of other plants.
Allelopathy was explained in detail by Austrian scientist Hans Molisch back in 1937 in his book whose English translation reads “Effect of plants on each other”.
Allelopathy and its Role in Agriculture
Allelopathy and its Role in Agriculture: Allelopathy is a biological phenomenon where certain plants release chemicals into the environment, affecting the growth and development of neighboring plants, either inhibiting or promoting their growth. Allelochemicals possess the capacity to either facilitate or hinder the germination and growth of plants, enabling the cultivation of crops with minimal phytotoxic residues in both water and soil.
In this article, you are going to read about Allelopathy and its Role in Agriculture, its pros, cons, etc.
Table of Content
- What is Allelopathy?
- Why some Plants are Allelopathic?
- Allelopathy in News
- Pros and Cons of Allelopathy
- Role of Allelopathy in Irrigated Agriculture
- Research on the Allelopathy in Agriculture
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