Alkaloids, Antagonisms and Allelopathy

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Abstract
The alkaloids are a structurally diverse group of secondary chemical compounds which are widely distributed in plants. Man has long employed alkaloids in pharmacy, food preparation and as poisons but they play a wider role as chemical messengers between the plants which produced them and an array of organisms. Whilst the alkaloids are recognised as a means of plant defence against insects, microorganisms and mammals, they have seldom been implicated in allelopathy. Recent investigations suggest that plant-produced alkaloids contribute to interference with other plants and that primary allelopathic activity may disrupt a biochemical pathway in plants which is analogous to one more usually associated with animals.

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