Paper Title
The Effect Of Flaming And Cultivation On Weed Control In Sunflower Production

Abstract
The use of propane flaming in combination with cultivation could be a potential alternative control method in combating weeds in sunflower production. Field experiments were conducted at the experimental field of Agricultural Faculty of Inonu University, Malatya/Turkey to determine the level of weed control and the response of sunflower seed yield and its components to flaming and cultivation using the flaming equipment developed at the Inonu University and Uludağ University. The treatments included weed-free control, weedy season-long and different combinations of broadcast flaming and mechanical cultivation (inter-row). The flaming treatments were applied at V2-V4 (2 leaf�4 leaf), V4-V6 (4 leaf�6 leaf), and V10�V12 (10 leaf � 12 leaf) growth stages. Propane doses were 60 kg ha−1 for broadcast flaming treatments. At the end of the experiment, the table diameter, plant height and yield values of the sunflower were determined. The highest sunflower yield was obtained from continuous weed control (3459.8 kg ha-1), this was followed by twice (324.5 kg ha-1) cultivation application. The highest table diameter was obtained from the continuous weed control plot (14,2 cm). In the plant height, the highest value was obtained cultivation once (V2-4) and flaming twice (V2-4 and V10-12). The lowest yield and yield components were obtained from the continuous weed control application. It may be suggested that the application of flaming in the weed control of the sunflower can increase the yield and thus may be used especially in organic agriculture. Keywords- Flaming, Cultivation, Weed Control, Sunflower