| Abstract |
Herbicide usage reduction is called for in the EU's Green Deal and Farm-to-Fork strategy. New developments in autonomous weed control have led to the first robots for practical use in organic farming, such as the sowing and weeding robot FarmDroid FD 20. They can significantly reduce manual weeding by hoeing not just between the rows, but also within the rows. However, hoeing is not an option where weeds are within a short distance of a crop plant to avoid possible damage to it. Under these circumstances, the use an intelligent spot-spray system such as the one developed by Amazone is a suitable option. In a field trial at the Sudzucker's experimental farm in Kirschgartshausen (Mannheim, Germany) in 2021, broadcast herbicide spraying was compared with autonomous hoeing with or without spot spraying. Findings indicated that while broadcast spraying was the most effective treatment in weed control, there were no significant differences in beet yield between the treatments. The sprayed area could be reduced by 90 % owing to the spot spraying. Further, hoeing and band spraying resulted in the reduction of herbicide usage by 50 - 60 %. |
