Abstract
Battery-powered autonomous mowers are designed to reduce the need of labor for lawn mowing compared with traditional endothermic engine mowers and at the same time to abate local emissions and noise. The aim of this research was to compare autonomous mower with traditional rotary mower on a tall fescue ( Festuca arundinacea ) lawn under different nitrogen (N) rates. A two-way factor experimental design with three replications was adopted. In the study, four N rates (0, 50, 100, and 150 kg·ha −1 ) and two mowing systems (autonomous mower vs. gasoline-powered walk-behind rotary mower equipped for mulching) were used. As expected, N fertilization increased turf quality. At the end of the trial, the autonomous mower increased turf density (3.2 shoots/cm 2 ) compared with the rotary mower (2.1 shoots/cm 2 ) and decreased average leaf width (2.1 mm) compared with the rotary mower (2.7 mm). Increased density and decreased leaf width with autonomous mowing yielded higher quality turf (7.3) compared with the rotary mower (6.4) and a lower weed incidence (6% and 9% cover for autonomous mower and rotary mower, respectively). Disease incidence and mowing quality were unaffected by the mowing system. The autonomous mower working time was set to 10 hours per day (≈7.8 hours for mowing and 2.2 hours for recharging) for a surface of 1296 m 2 . The traditional rotary mower working time for the same surface was 1.02 hours per week. The estimated primary energy consumption for autonomous mower was about 4.80 kWh/week compared with 12.60 kWh/week for gasoline-powered rotary mowing. Based on turf quality aspects and energy consumption, the use of autonomous mowers could be a promising alternative to traditional mowers.
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Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
Nitrogen fertilization increased tall fescue turf quality.
- Taxon
- Tall Fescue
Lolium arundinaceumt0 - Treatment
- N fertilizatione0
- Outcome
- turf qualitye0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“N fertilization increased turf quality”
t0“Tall Fescue”
Claim · model-written summary
Autonomous mowing increased tall fescue turf density to 3.2 shoots/cm 2 compared with 2.1 under rotary mowing.
- Taxon
- Tall FescueLolium arundinaceumt0
- Treatment
- autonomous mowere0
- Outcome
- turf densitye0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 3.2 shoots/cm 2e0
- Qualifier
- 2.1 shoots/cm 2e0
- Comparator
- rotary mowere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the autonomous mower increased turf density (3.2 shoots/cm 2 ) compared with the rotary mower (2.1 shoots/cm 2 )”
t0“Tall Fescue”
Claim · model-written summary
Autonomous mowing reduced average leaf width to 2.1 mm compared with 2.7 mm for rotary mowing.
- Taxon
- Tall FescueLolium arundinaceumt0
- Treatment
- autonomous mowere1
- Outcome
- average leaf widthe0
- Direction
- decreasede0
- Value
- 2.1 mme0
- Qualifier
- 2.7 mme0
- Comparator
- rotary mowere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“decreased average leaf width (2.1 mm) compared with the rotary mower (2.7 mm)”
e1“autonomous mower increased turf density”
t0“Tall Fescue”
Claim · model-written summary
Autonomous mowing improved turf quality to 7.3 compared with 6.4 under rotary mowing.
- Taxon
- Tall FescueLolium arundinaceumt0
- Treatment
- autonomous mowinge1
- Outcome
- quality turfe0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 7.3e0
- Qualifier
- 6.4e0
- Comparator
- rotary mowere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“higher quality turf (7.3) compared with the rotary mower (6.4)”
e1“autonomous mowing yielded”
t0“Tall Fescue”
Claim · model-written summary
Autonomous mowing reduced weed cover to 6% versus 9% under rotary mowing.
- Taxon
- Tall FescueLolium arundinaceumt0
- Treatment
- autonomous mowere0
- Interactor
- weede0weed
- Outcome
- weed incidencee0
- Direction
- lowere0
- Value
- 6%e0
- Qualifier
- 9%e0
- Comparator
- rotary mowere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“a lower weed incidence (6% and 9% cover for autonomous mower and rotary mower, respectively)”
t0“Tall Fescue”
Claim · model-written summary
Mowing system did not affect disease incidence.
- Taxon
- Tall FescueLolium arundinaceumt0
- Treatment
- mowing systeme0
- Outcome
- Disease incidencee0
- Direction
- unaffectede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Disease incidence and mowing quality were unaffected by the mowing system”
t0“Tall Fescue”
Claim · model-written summary
Mowing system did not affect mowing quality.
- Taxon
- Tall FescueLolium arundinaceumt0
- Treatment
- mowing systeme0
- Outcome
- mowing qualitye0
- Direction
- unaffectede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Disease incidence and mowing quality were unaffected by the mowing system”
t0“Tall Fescue”
Claim · model-written summary
Autonomous mower primary energy use was about 4.80 kWh/week versus 12.60 kWh/week for rotary mowing.
- Taxon
- Tall FescueLolium arundinaceumt0
- Outcome
- primary energy consumptione0
- Direction
- lowerinferrede0
- Value
- 4.80 kWh/weeke0
- Qualifier
- 12.60 kWh/weeke0
- Comparator
- gasoline-powered rotary mowinge0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The estimated primary energy consumption for autonomous mower was about 4.80 kWh/week compared with 12.60 kWh/week for gasoline-powered rotary mowing”
t0“Tall Fescue”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors consider autonomous mowers a promising alternative based on turf quality and energy consumption.
- Taxon
- Tall FescueLolium arundinaceumt0
- Outcome
- use of autonomous mowerse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Based on turf quality aspects and energy consumption, the use of autonomous mowers could be a promising alternative to traditional mowers”
t0“Tall Fescue”
The same questions in other papers
pruning · disease · Lolium arundinaceum (tall fescue)Positive and negative results
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pruning · quality: general · Lolium arundinaceum (tall fescue)Positive and negative results
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See all 8 papers →fertilization · quality: general · Lolium arundinaceum (tall fescue)Positive and negative results
6 papers in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction
- no effect
- no effect
- positive
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See all 9 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.