Agricultural Horizons: Research, Technology and Sustainable Development Vol. 1

Weed management is a recurrent constraint in sunflower because the crop combines relatively slow early canopy development with a narrow range of selective options for several broad-leaved weeds, while herbicide-tolerant hybrids and parasitic broomrape create additional stewardship problems. This critical narrative review evaluates how weed interference, herbicide timing, crop competitiveness, mechanical and cultural tactics, herbicide-tolerant production systems, and sunflower broomrape management can be combined into durable programmes. Literature published mainly from 2000 to 10 June 2026 was identified through live searches of accessible scholarly indexes, repositories and journal records, with older foundational studies retained where they clarified competition or mechanical control. The evidence consistently shows that early weed interference can markedly depress seed yield and yield components, but the timing and duration of the critical period vary with weed flora, density, environment, crop density and the use of residual herbicides. Pre-emergence herbicides can widen the operational window for later control, although rainfall and soil moisture strongly modify efficacy and crop selectivity. Herbicide-tolerant sunflower improves post-emergence control of difficult broad-leaved weeds and broomrape, yet repeated acetolactate-synthase inhibitor use creates selection pressure, while crop-to-wild gene flow can transfer tolerance traits into weedy sunflower populations. Mechanical hoeing, row-targeted herbicide plus inter-row cultivation, competitive crop stands and rotation can reduce reliance on broadcast herbicides, but their performance is more management-sensitive than single-tool chemical programmes. Broomrape requires a distinct integrated strategy combining host resistance, crop rotation, carefully timed chemistry and surveillance because parasite races and herbicide resistance are evolving. The strongest conclusion is therefore not that one tactic is superior, but that sunflower weed management is most robust when early-season suppression, diversified modes of action, crop competition, non-chemical interventions and seedbank prevention are coordinated at field and rotation scales. Research priorities include multi-environment decision models, resistance-aware programmes, precision intra-row control, long-term seedbank experiments and joint management of ordinary weeds, weedy sunflower and broomrape.