Precision mapping and treatment of spring dead spot in bermudagrass using unmanned aerial vehicles and global navigation satellite systems sprayer technology

Spring dead spot is a disease of bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L. Pers) caused by Ophiosphaerella spp., of fungi which infect the below ground structures of plants, causing damage to the turf canopy. Previous research suggests that precision management strategies based on manually identified disease within unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery using GIS software and global navigation satellite systems (GNSS)-equipped sprayers can reduce the fungicide required for spring dead spot management. However, this methodology is time consuming and impractical for golf course superintendents. This paper introduces a novel approach to spring dead spot identification utilizing a custom Python script, the Simple Ophiosphaerella Damage Detector (SODD), to identify and record locations of spring dead spot from UAV imagery using basic feature extraction techniques. Initial tests comparing the outputs from SODD to spring dead spot manually identified by researchers on four fairways, comparisons of K-means cluster maps showed similarities ranging between 71 and 88% although incidence counts were inconsistent. Precision treatment methods based on SODD were evaluated across 16 golf course fairways at three locations in Virginia organized as a randomized complete-block design with four replications and four treatment methods; spot and zonal treatments based on SODD identified incidence and density, respectively, compared against full-coverage and non-treated controls. Applications were made with a Toro Multipro5800 with GeoLink GNSS-equipped sprayer in Fall of 2021. Spot and zonal treatment strategies showed similar control to full-coverage applications (p≤0.001) while reducing the percentage of the fairways treated by 48% and 52%, respectively (p≤0.001). These results highlight the capabilities for SODD as a tool for disease map generation.