Application of allelopathy in crop production

Increasing global population is a threat to food security and agricultural sustainability. Allelopathy has emerged as a pragmatic approach to solve multiple issues in modern agriculture. Multiple approaches including crop rotations, cover crops, intercropping, mulching, crop residue incorporation and water extracts application are being used to explore allelopathy for pest management, stress mitigation, and growth enhancement in crop production. Allelopathy offers natural control of weeds, insect-pests and diseases. Biosynthesis of secondary metabolites at higher rates and their role in stress signaling provides excellent defense against abiotic stresses. Allelochemicals exuded in plant rhizosphere improve nutrient acquisition through the processes of solublization, biological nitrification inhibition, chelation and selected retention. Allelochemicals promote growth at low concentration; however suppress the growth if applied at high concentration. Allelopathic water extracts of sorghum, brassica, sunflower, rice, wheat, maize and moringa improve crop growth when applied at low concentrations. In this manuscript, potential application of the allelopathic phenomenon in crop production is discussed. If wisely planned, use of this phenomenon is quite effective in managing agricultural pests and improving the productivity of agricultural systems.