Weeds in sunflower production in Croatia and their control

Sunflower is the most important oil crop in the Republic of Croatia. In the last two decades, it has been grown on average on 33,506 ha with a average grain yield of 2.66 t/ha. Weeds represent one of the most important causes of biotic stress, and their action is reflected in the competition for nutrients, water, light and space. The weed flora in sunflower crops in Croatia is extremely diverse, and we will most often meet: Polygonum persicaria L., Polygonum lapathifolium L., Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., Chenopodium polyspermum L., Amaranthus retroflexus L., Solanum nigrum L. emend Miller, Abutilon theophrasti Medik, Datura stramonium L., Xanthium strumarium L., Convolvulus arvensis L., Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop., Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) Pb., Setaria glauca (L.) Pb., Setaria viridis (L.) Pb., Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop., Panicum spp. and Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. For many years, weed control was based on the intensive use of chemical preparations, which were most often used after sowing and before emergence, in double or triple combinations. In addition to a number of advantages of using chemicals in sunflower production, the problem of broadleaf weeds was not satisfactorily solved until the advent of Clearfield, Clearfield plus and Express sun technology, i.e. hybrids tolerant to herbicides from the group of imidazolinone (imazamox) and sulfonyl-urea (tribenuron-methyl) at the beginning of this century. Integrated plant protection, including integrated weed management, with its holistic approach and greater application of direct and indirect non-chemical measures, is only environmental quality solution for controlling weeds in sunflowers.