Experimental Study of the Planting Uniformity of Sugarcane Single-Bud Billet Planters

Planting uniformity is a key evaluation index for planters. This paper investigated the effect of rotational speed, the angle of the rake bar chain, and the number of billets on the planting uniformity of a seed-metering device in the laboratory. The experimental results showed that the optimal planting uniformity can be achieved under a rake bar chain angle of 117°, a number of billets of 500, and a rotational speed of the rake bar chain of 70 rpm. Under this condition, the quality index Zq was 97.22% and the multiple index Zm was 0%, while the miss index Ze was 2.78%. Based on the above parameters, a single-bud planter was improved with three rake bar chains per seed box. Field experiments with different operation parameters (rotational speed, forward speed) were conducted. Results indicated that when the rotational speed was 40 rpm and the forward speed was 2.26 km/h, the planting uniformity was the best and the quality index Zq was 93.38%. The research results provide a basis for the application of single-bud billet planters in the field.