Flame-weeding: Impact on soybean plants and soil microorganisms

Flame-weeding is a very useful method for weed control, especially in organic production where the use of herbicides is prohibited. With this method heat sup­presses weeds in row within a second. Apart from this, heat also affects growing crop plants and surrounding soil. The aim of this paper was to determine the effect of different propane doses, on photosynthetic and polyphenolic (total flavonoids and anthocyаnins) pigments in soybean leaves, as well as the number of microorganisms in the soil. Soybean plants exposed to flame showed a different reaction to high temperature stress, which was reflected in differ­ent content of analyzed biochemical parameters, but the most responsive were anthocyanins. Actinomycetes turned out to be the most sensitive group of soil microorganisms affected by weed flaming, while fungi were the most tolerant.