Investigation of planting uniformity in a sugarcane billet planter with overlap planting pattern

Uniform distribution of billets during planting operation by sugarcane billet planters is important from an economical view interms of amount of billets consumed and planting uniformity. Reduction in billets consumed in sugarcane planting results in lower costs of production. In this research a billet planter with capability of overlap planting pattern was desigend, developed, and field evaluated. Factors under consideration were filling percentage of metering device cupboards, under-overlapping, desired overlapping and, over-overlapping planting pattern as affected by planting forward speed (2, 3, and 4 km/h), sugarcane variety (CP69-1062 and CP57-614), and vertical angle of the metering device conveyor chain (25 and 30 degrees). Experiments were performed using a complete randomized design with three replications. Data obtained was analyzed in SPSS sofware to determine suitable chain angle, forward speed, and variety and their effect on planting uniformity. Results showed that planting speed had highest effect on filling percentage of metering device cupboards, under-overlapping, and desired overlapping. As speed increased, filling percentage and desired ovrlapping decreased and under-overlapping increased. Effect of chain angle and sugarcane variety on filling percentage of cupboards was significant. The best performance of the planter designed was obtained at a planting speed of 3 km/h for both varieties with a 25 degree conveyor chain angle.