5. Challenges in implementing allelopathic concepts
Demonstrating allelopathy as a strategy of interfer-
ence in competitive crop cultivars might be a difficult
process because different mechanisms of interference
such as resource competition, allelopathy, nutrient
immobilization and microbial influence all operate in
parallel. Furthermore, allelochemicals are interwoven
with environmental stresses (Einhellig, 1999). Therefore,
demonstrating allelopathy as the sole mechanism of
interference may prove to be a difficult task (Inderjit and
Del Moral, 1997). A series of laboratory experiments
involving modification of adverse effects of cultivars
with N-fertilization, activated charcoal and abiotic soil
might give some information on involvement of
allelochemicals