Allelopathic interactions in agroforestry systems

Agroforestry is a modern tool to develop sustainable land use and to increa se food production by growing woody species (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) with agricultural crops and/or animals in some form of spatial arran gement or temporal sequence. Because these species co-exist with the agricu ltural crops, their allelopathic compatibility may be crucial to determine the success of an agroforestry system. A survey of the available informatio n reveals that most of the agroforestry species (AF species) have negative allelopathic effects on food and fodder crops. Therefore, it is desirable t o do further research in this direction so that AF species with no or posit ive allelopathic effects on the companion crops may be promoted for agrofor estry programs. As AF species remain a part of the agroecosystem for a long er period, and most of them produce a large amount of leaves and litter, th eir allelochemicals may play an important role in developing an eco-friendl y pest management strategy. Besides these generally studied aspects of alle lopathy, some comparatively newer aspects of research have been identified, such as evaluation of qualitative yield of agroforestry systems, selective behavior of the allelochemicals, effect on soil quality, and the role of t ree allelochemicals in animal and human nutrition. If given due considerati on, allelopathy could play a pivotal role in conservation of the highly thr eatened environment, biodiversity, natural resource base, and making agricu lture more sustainable through broadening the scope of agroforestry.