Views: 39 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2023-02-14 Origin: Site
Drones, often referred to as unmanned aircraft systems, are being employed by turfgrass researchers at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station to address two of the most pressing issues in turfgrass management.
Water and labor, according to Daniel O'Brien, a Ph.D. horticulture student at the experiment station, are the two existential problems for the future of golf courses and turfgrass more generally.
There is a ton of excellent grass research being done right now, but I'm not sure how much we will be able to enjoy all the other excellent work if we can't get the water and labor correct. Drones have enormous potential to assist tackle the problems of labor and water, particularly on golf courses.
Turfgrass managers, such as golf course superintendents, might benefit realistically from the thermal and multispectral drone footage used by researchers to gather data for drought studies and wetter experiments.
Using a drone, O'Brien stated, "I can see where the grass is hot, dry, or weak and can administer a wetting chemical there, but I could also see where things are perfectly wonderful and we don't need to run any irrigation." With the information we're receiving from the sky, this might be a significant water-saving strategy.
Labor shortages are a major issue on golf courses, just like they are in many other businesses. The shortage of staff presents superintendents with a significant management challenge, whether it is having insufficient employees to monitor the course for possible issues or having only one person available to manually water troubled spots throughout the day.
A golf course superintendent may use drones as a reconnaissance tool to quickly assess a large area of land and make judgments about how to allocate his limited work force. Drones equipped with thermal and multispectral cameras can effectively deliver water to areas that need it most before stress results in major lawn damage by seeing beyond the range of the human eye.
The National Turfgrass Evaluation Program involves the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station in testing turfgrass species for a variety of characteristics, such as drought tolerance. The station has a long-standing partnership doing field trials with the Turfgrass Water Conservation Alliance in addition to NTEP research.
According to Mike Richardson, a professor of horticulture at the experiment station, "water concerns are highly critical across the country, especially west of Arkansas where you get into water-limiting settings." "We conduct assessment program trials that are heavily focused on grasses that can perform and endure for long periods of time with little to no water."
One thing to keep in mind while using drones is that because technology develops so quickly, even well-liked models might end up being replaced by more recent versions.
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