Effect of Fraise Mowing on Soil Physical Properties.

Evaluation of Fraise Mowing on Soil Properties of Bermudagrass Surfaces –

Ray McCauley, Grady Miller, Garland Pinnix

Fraise mowing is an ultra-aggressive cultural practice that purges plant and soil material from 0 to 5 cm depths. Fraise mower’s functional depths overlap with compaction from daily foot and maintenance traffic (<7.6 cm depth). Therefore, fraise mowing may remove surface crusts and compaction thus improving infiltration, soil oxygen, and root growth. The objective of this research was to evaluate fraise mowing as a viable cultivation method to remove surface compaction. To test this, trials were conducted in 2016 on sand-based and native soil athletic fields at UNC Chapel Hill and were repeated in 2017. Plots measured 0.7x1.8 m and were arranged in a RCBD with four replications. Plots were subjected to simulated foot traffic with a Pinnix (modified Baldree) traffic simulator at 0, 10, 20 passes (0, 20, 40 American football games, respectively). All plots were then fraise mowed at 1.9 cm depth with a Blec Combinator and digging rotor. Soil physical properties- saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), bulk density, Θv, soil hardness, soil strength- were measured after applying traffic and following fraise mowing. Results were analyzed using ANOVA and with an α =0.05. In 2016, saturated hydraulic conductivity and soil hardness improved on both sand based fields following fraise mowing. Both improvements indicated the potential of fraise mowing to reduce shallow soil compaction. However, higher soil bulk densities, higher soil hardness values, and lower laboratory Ksat values occurred after fraise mowing in 2017.