Comprehensive study on role of allelopathic potential in medicinal plants

Allelopathy is a biological phenomenon by which an organism produces one or more biochemicals that influence the germination, growth, survival, and reproduction of other organisms from the same community. Weeds are known to destroy crop production in large amount. Although practice of synthetic herbicides in the crop fields has amplified the crop productivity by dropping the weed infestation, but also are accountable for several environmental hazards. The need of hour is to manipulate agriculture practices that take benefit of the stimulatory/inhibitory influence of allelopathic plants to achieve sustainable agricultural development. Medicinal plants possess secondary metabolites which may own allelopathic properties. The chemical compounds of allelopathic value can be isolated from the medicinal plants to evaluate their allelochemical potential under laboratory as well as in field conditions. This review intends to reflect The current status regarding allelopathic impacts of allelochemicals from therapeutic plants, has been discussed, which can be used for the development of biodegradable herbicides and to attain sustainable agriculture.