he aims of the present work is to introduce a mechanical sugarcane buds separation system for purpose of nursery planting. In current study, the machine was designed, fabricated and tested laboratory at the Agricultural Engineering Research Institute (AENRI), Giza. The field test was conducted in Elmatana Research Station, Luxor Governorate. The machine was developed to cut the cane buds with an adequate part of root band to secure strong germination. The machine used to separate the bud from the cane stalk and leave the stalk for industrial process. The mechanical system consisted of the developed unit that powered by the compressed air provided by an air compressor at a pressure of 10 bar. A pneumatic cylinder pushes a special punch that separates the buds of the cane stalk. The physical and mechanical properties that related to cutting the sugar cane buds were measured. Average production of the machine under the conditions of the test was about 1056 buds/h. Buds sizes were classified according to the part of stalk diameter cut by the punch. The cuts were determined approximately as 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 of the stalk diameter, and the results showed a high vitality of the seedlings resulting from the separation of buds with this machine. Experiments in the nursery showed that the planting of the buds separated by using this machine gave a high germination percent. Bud chips germination significantly improved after treatment with fungicide (Rizolex-T 50%) for 5 minutes, compared with untreated treatment. Transplanting the healthy seedlings in the permanent field gave high cane yield (60.96 t/fed), which was 10.96% higher than that of conventionally planted cane crop (54.94 t/fed). it also produced higher tiller /clump (11), some millable canes /clump (7) and several millable canes /fed (59.56 thousand/fed) with survival (96.17%). This improved also higher stalk length (262.75 cm), diameter (2.8 cm) and weight (1.28 kg).

The current study was conducted at El-Mattana Research Station (latitude: 25.25° N, longitude: 32.31° E), Agricultural Research Center, Luxor Governorate, Egypt on a plant-cane in 2020-2021 and its first ratoon in 2021-2022 seasons to determine the benefits of using bud chip technology compared to traditional sugarcane planting using cane cuttings, whether earlier (In March) or late (In May).The findings showed that planting sugarcane in March (as recommended) using cane setts was comparable to employing bud chips technology in terms of cane and sugar yields per hectare as well as the number of millable canes per hectare, as well as stalk length, diameter, and weight. The first ratoon crop and plant cane both displayed the same trend in terms of quality features.When sugarcane was planted late (in May), bud chips produced better yields of canes and sugar per hectare than cane cuttings did in the plant's cane and first ratoon (14.95 and 3.23 tonnes and 10.20 and 2.07 tonnes, respectively). Meanwhile, May's late planting resulted in a significant decline in the values of the examined quality parameters of both the plant and the first crop of rats . Applying the bud chips approach had a comparative economic advantage over the traditional planting of cane cuttings in both early and late sugarcane planting, in terms of planting expenses, gross and net return, as well as benefit-cost ratio.

The examined treatments were distributed in a split-plot design with three replications. Sugarcane varieties were assigned to the main plots while the ages at harvest were distributed in the sub-plots. The results indicated that sugarcane varieties significantly differed in all studied traits. G.2004-27 variety recorded the highest millable cane length and cane yield in both seasons, while variety G.2005-47 gave the highest values of millable cane diameter, weight and sugar yield. However, the differences in millable cane weight between the sugarcane variety G.2005-47 and variety G.2004-27 were insignificant, in the second season only. Sugar cane variety G.2003-47 recorded the highest sucrose, purity and sugar recovery in both seasons. Also, variety G.2000-5 gave the highest values of brix% in both seasons. Harvesting at 14 months old recorded the highest mean values of millable cane length, diameter, weight, brix and cane yield in both seasons, as well as sugar yield in the second season. The highest mean values of sucrose, purity, and sugar recovery in both seasons, as well as sugar yield in the first season, were recorded at 13-month-old. Under this investigation, the maximum cane and sugar yield was obtained by G.2004-27 and G.2005-47 varieties when they were harvested at 14 and 13 months old, respectively.