Abstract: Allelopathy is commonly defined as the direct or indirect effects (stimulative or inhibitory) by one plant or another through production of chemical compounds that escape into environment, this phenomenon exists extensively in the agroecosystem, together with the plants competition on light, water, nutrients and space, constitutes the interaction between different plants. In agricultural production, plant allelopathy influences the monoculture, crop rotation, crop cover, and takes an important role in getting rid of the obstacles of continuous cropping, regulating crops growth and preventing the pests and weeds and so on. In recent years, plant allelopathy was paid more attention by researchers all around the world. The categories, ways of releasing allelochemicals, and the research background, latest development, as well as the prospects of plant allelopathy applied in agricultural production were reviewed in this paper based on many references collected. Then the potential values in development of new varieties were also proposed. The further research in this field will be mainly focused on the cultivation of new allelopathic varieties which can avoid pests and suppress weeds as well as the application of plantbased pesticides. Furthermore, allelochemicals can be used as herbicides and the possibility of artificial synthesis will be investigated so that the pollution of chemical herbicides can be reduced. In the end, the existing problems and direction in the study on plants allelopathy were advanced.

Key words: allelopathy, plant, allelochemical, agricultural production