April 24 (Reuters) - Swedish garden equipment and tools maker Husqvarna on Wednesday reported slightly lower than expected first-quarter results after a "cautious" start to the year ahead of the gardening season.

The group, whose products range from robotic lawnmowers to irrigation systems, posted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of 1.93 billion Swedish crowns ($178.59 million) for the quarter, down 18% from a year earlier.

That was slightly below the 1.95 billion crowns expected in a poll of analyst estimates collected by LSEG.

Sales fell 14% to 14.7 billion Swedish crowns, missing the 15.01 billion expected by analysts.

The EBIT decline was mainly a result of lower volumes with lower capacity utilisation in production,

said

the company in a statement.

($1 = 10.8070 Swedish crowns) (Reporting by Jesus Calero; Editing by Josephine Mason)