Strategies for utilizing allelopathy as an aid in crop production include both avoidance and application protocols. There are immediate opportunities for management of weed and crop residues, tillage practices, and crop sequences to minimize crop losses from allelopathy and also to use allelopathic crops for weed control. Varieties of grain and forage sorghums (Sorghum Spp.), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), oats (Avena sativa L.), wheat (Triticum sativum L.),rye (Secale cereale L.), and others may provide weed control and in some instances crop stimulation from their residues. Our four-year field study with cultivated sunflower resulted in no differences in weed biomass between plots with and without herbicide (EPTC) applications. Strip cropping that included sorghum showed that in the subsequent year weed density and biomass were significantly lower in the previous-year sorghum than in soybean strips. Possibilities exist for modification of crop plant metabolism to alter production of allelochemicals. Allelochemical-environmental interactions must be considered in efforts to benefit from allelopathy. Under greenhouse conditions, joint application of low levels of atrazine, trifluralin, alachlor, or cinmethylin with a phenolic allelochemical showed that these two categories of inhibitors acted in concert to reduce plant growth. Allelochemicals may also be adapted as yield stimulants or environmentally sound herbicides, such as cinmethylin and methoxyphenone. Isolation of bialophos, tentoxin, and others shows that bacteria and fungi are good sources of biologically active compounds.

Investigations in allelopathy often require the use of a bioassay for evaluating limited quantities of potentially active growth regulators. A bioassay procedure was developed usingL. minor grown in 1.5-ml aliquots of nutrient medium with and without allelochemicals in wells of 24-well tissue culture cluster dishes with loose-fitting lids. Tests using six replications per treatment with several flavonoid compounds and derivatives of coumarin, benzoic acid, and cinnamic acid demonstrated that the bioassay was capable of measuring inhibition at levels of compound ranging from 50 to 1000 μmol. Strongly inhibitory treatments were visible after 1 or 2 days. After 7 days of growth, frond number, growth rate, and dry weight were used to evaluate effects. The bioassay system is relatively simple, very sensitive, reproducible, and can be used for testing small amounts and dilute concentrations of unknowns which have been separated by chromatography.

This study compared the relative sensitivity of five inexpensive, rapid toxicity tests to the sensitivity of five standard aquatic acute toxicity tests through literature review and testing. The rapid toxicity tests utilized organisms that require little culturing or handling prior to testing: a freshwater rotifer (Branchionus calyciflorus); brine shrimp (Artemia salina); lettuce (Lactuca sativa); and two microbial tests (Photobacterium phosphoreum–Microtoxr̀ test, and a mixture of bacterial species–the Polytoxr̀ test). Standard acute toxicity test species included water fleas (Daphnia magna and Ceriodaphnia dubia), green algae (Selenastrum capricornutum), fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas), and mysid shrimp (Mysidopsis bahia). Sensitivity comparisons between rapid and standard acute toxicity tests were based on LC50/EC50 data from 11 test chemicals. Individually, the lettuce and rotifer tests ranked most similar in sensitivity to the standard tests, while Microtox fell just outside the range of sensitivities represented by the group of standard acute toxicity tests. The brine shrimp and Polytox tests were one or more orders of magnitude different from the standard acute toxicity tests for most compounds. The lettuce, rotifer, and Microtox tests could be used as a battery for preliminary toxicity screening of chemicals. Further evaluation of complex “real‐world” environmental samples is recommended.

Ethylene was found to be required for the release or secretion of cellulase from the cytoplasm to the cell wall in bean-petiole abscission-zone explants. This is an addition to its previously known action in accelerating senescence and cellulase synthesis in abscission.

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