Database of benzoxazinoid allelochemical research
The rising popularity of organic produce is evidence that people are becoming increasingly concerned about the methods used to produce the food they consume. The aim is to keep the process as natural as possible. The introduction of allelochemicals, either by breeding or by genetic modification, could help promote this trend. Allelochemicals are a special class of substances emitted by plants that affect the plant and animal life around them, often acting as natural herbicides and pesticides. The LIFE QUALITY Programme funded the FATEALLCHEM project to fully investigate the potential of allelochemicals in this role. Specialists in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) with the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences (DIAS) coordinated the project. The question to be answered was how the allelochemicals would behave once released to the environment. FATEALLCHEM focused on the effects of benzoxazinoid allelochemicals and their breakdown products on both humans and the biosphere. An important deliverable of the project is a database which contains references to all known research addressing the microbial transformation of benzoxazinoid allelochemicals. The database has been made available to the research community and to the greater public on the FATEALLCHEM homepage at: http://www.fateallchem.dk(opens in new window) . A relevant publication in the journal Chemosphere has also been realised. DIAS will further enrich the database with the results from the research undertaken in the context of FATEALLCHEM.
