Field Evaluation of Sugarcane Planters

Eight mechanical sugarcane planters and three planting aids were evaluated on the basis of uniformity of planting and damage to the cane stalks. Four automatic feed control systems were included in the tests. The results indicate that hand planting with planting aids yields better uniformity than is obtained with mechanical planters. There was no significant difference in uniformity between manual and automatic control. There were significant differences among planters in degree of damage to the eyes on the stalks of seed cane. Several of the mechanical planters did significantly more damage to the cane than was noted with hand planting. Rates of planting varied from 69,000 to 274,000 eyes/ha (28,000 to 111,000 eyes/acre).