Moslem Namjoo

A reduction in the amount of billet used in mechanized planting of sugarcane is very important. In this research a new billet planter which plants billets with an overlap planting pattern was fabricated. Array of cupboards attached on chain conveyor were used on two metering devices for transportation of billets to the furrows. The mechanism used to exclude extra billets was effective and at the same time simple in design and construction. Chain conveyor system enabled the timing of the billet travel to provide desired planting with the recommended billet overlapping. Ground-driven power train was used to run the metering devices, hence providing a constant billet overlap planting pattern according to the changes of forward speed. The planter was evaluated in the field based on the on cupboards filling percentage, over-overlapping and under overlapping as affected by planting speeds (2.59, 3, 3.5, 4 km/h), cane varieties (CP69-1062 and CP57-614) and angles of the chain conveyor structure from vertical line (10, 15, 20 degree) with three replications. A factorial experiment in a completely randomized design was used to determine effect of planting speed and chain conveyor angle on cupboards filling percentage, over and under overlap indexes. The results indicated that the chain conveyor angle and planting speed have significant effects on cupboards filling percentage. An increase in planting speed and chain conveyor angle decreased the percentage filling of cupboards. The best performance of the metering unit designed was obtained at a planting speed of 3.5 km/h for both varieties with a 20 degree conveyor chain angle.