Despite now being considered as a very innovative technique, the use of flaming for weed control is an old tradition. It was very common in the USA until the 1960s, when herbicides were still not very popular. After several decades, interest has been renewed in the USA, Canada and Europe, because of increasing environmental and health concerns. Flaming can be used to control weeds before crop planting/emergence (non-selective) and after crop emergence (selective). In this context, a specific machine for mechanical-thermal weed control in maize is being developed within the European Project RHEA. This machine will provide selective thermal in-row weed control and mechanical between-row weed removal. This paper focuses on thermal weed control and reviews some of the studies that describe the tolerance of maize to flaming. The yield loss is generally very low and the treatment does not greatly affect the production, especially with doses lower than or equal to 50 kg ha-1. The maximum threshold is generally not higher than 15- 20% of yield loss and is usually reached just with doses higher than 100 kg ha-1.
Effect of flaming at different LPG doses on maize plants
FRASCONI, CHRISTIAN;FONTANELLI, MARCO;RAFFAELLI, MICHELE;MARTELLONI, LUISA;PERUZZI, ANDREA
2011-01-01
Abstract
Despite now being considered as a very innovative technique, the use of flaming for weed control is an old tradition. It was very common in the USA until the 1960s, when herbicides were still not very popular. After several decades, interest has been renewed in the USA, Canada and Europe, because of increasing environmental and health concerns. Flaming can be used to control weeds before crop planting/emergence (non-selective) and after crop emergence (selective). In this context, a specific machine for mechanical-thermal weed control in maize is being developed within the European Project RHEA. This machine will provide selective thermal in-row weed control and mechanical between-row weed removal. This paper focuses on thermal weed control and reviews some of the studies that describe the tolerance of maize to flaming. The yield loss is generally very low and the treatment does not greatly affect the production, especially with doses lower than or equal to 50 kg ha-1. The maximum threshold is generally not higher than 15- 20% of yield loss and is usually reached just with doses higher than 100 kg ha-1.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
