Performance Evaluation of Yanmar Combine Harvester

Application of farm machines to agricultural production system has been one of the outstanding developments in agriculture during the past century. The burden and drudgery of farm work have been reduced and the output per worker has been greatly increased. Introduction of new and appropriate machinery would help reduce the production cost, harvesting loss and could be a solution to labour scarcity. This study was undertaken to evaluate the technical performance and harvesting losses of a combine harvester. The study was carried out in two different harvesting seasons (Boro 2019 and Aman 2019) using YANMAR (AG600GA) combine harvester at two different locations. The first experiment was conducted in Basail Upazila, Tangail during Boro season (May-2019). And the second experiment was conducted in Kendua, Upazila, Netrokona during Aman season (November-2019). The field efficiency of the combine harvester in Boro season was found 53.69% and that of Aman season was found 57.89%. The fuel consumption of combine harvester in Boro season was found 21.49 L/ha and for Aman season was found 20.37 L/ha. Average losses including cutter bar loss, shatter loss, cylinder loss and separating loss in Boro season was found 1.62% and in Aman season was found 1.29%. Mechanical harvesting like Yanmar combine harvester could save 4.90% paddy losses over manual harvesting system. So, the overall performance of the YANMAR combine harvester was found satisfactory.