Assessment of BRRI Whole Feed Combine Harvester (Model BRRI WCH2021) for Mechanized Rice Harvesting in Bangladesh

Agricultural mechanization plays a pivotal role in the transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture, with a particular focus on labour-intensive activities like harvesting. This study assesses the operational characteristics of the BRRI Whole Feed Combine Harvester (Model BRRI WCH2021) at the field level. Developed under the SFMRA project, the harvester’s technical performance and loss assessment were conducted during the Boro 2022 and Aman 2022 seasons in farmer fields in Bangladesh’s Rangpur region. The field efficiency of the harvester was determined to be 62.5% and 57.9% in the Boro and Aman seasons, respectively. Fuel consumption rates were recorded at 2.77 l/ha and 2.31 l/ha for the Boro and Aman seasons. The total harvesting losses, encompassing cutter bar, shatter, cylinder, and separation loss, averaged 0.56% and 0.48% in the Boro and Aman seasons, respectively. Mechanized harvesting with the BRRI Whole Feed Combine Harvester significantly reduced paddy losses by 5.81% compared to manual methods. The field evaluation results indicate the combine harvester’s satisfactory performance, highlighting its potential to alleviate labour demands during peak harvesting. The development of the BRRI WCH offers a sustainable solution for rice harvesting mechanization among progressive farmers. It paves the way for the broader adoption of advanced agricultural technology in Bangladesh.

An Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Trends of Land Surface Temperature in the Dhaka Metropolitan Area by Applying Landsat Images

Land surface temperature (LST) is a basic determinant of the global thermal behavior of the Earth surface. LST is a vital consideration for the appraisal of gradual thermal change for urban areas to examine the strength of the thermal intensity of the surface of urban heat island (SUHI) and to see how hot the surface of the Earth would be in a particular location. In this respect, the most developed urban city like Dhaka Metropolitan Area (DMA), Bangladesh is considered for estimation of LST, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) changes trend in more developed and growing developing areas. The focus of this study is to find out the critical hotspot zones for further instantaneous analysis between these two types of areas. The trends of long-term spatial and temporal LST and NDVI are estimated applying Landsat images-Landsat 5-TM and Landsat OLI_TIRS-8 for the period of 1988 to 2018 for DMA and for developed and growing developing areas during the summer season like for the month of March. The supervised classification was used to estimate the land cover categories and to generate the LST trends maps of the different percentiles of LSTs over time using the emissivity and effective at sensor brightness temperature. The study found the change in land cover patterns by different LST groups based on 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile where the maximum LST for the whole DMA went up by 2.48°C, 1.01°C, and 3.76°C for the months of March, April, and May, respectively for the period of 1988 to 2018. The highest difference in LST was found for the most recently developed area. The moderate change of LST increased in the built-up areas where LST was found more sensitive to climate change than the growing developed areas. The vegetation coverage area decreased by 6.74% in the growing, developing areas compared to the developed areas from 1988 to 2018. The findings of the study might be helpful for urban planners and researchers to take up appropriate measures to mitigate the thermal effect on urban environment.

Effect of Seeding Density on Mat-Type Seedling Quality for Mechanical Transplanting in Dry Season Rice

Rice transplanting with a transplanter is a cost-effective process. Due to labor shortages during the peak time of rice transplanting, it is a promising technology in Bangladesh. However, the high-quality mat-type seedling is a prerequisite factor for mechanical transplanting. The experiments were conducted at three different locations (Gazipur, Tangail, and Rangpur) during the dry season (Boro)/2019-20 to determine the best seeding density for high-quality mat-type seedlings to be prepared for mechanical rice transplanters. The effects of seeding rate on seedling quality such as survival rate, seedling strength, stem thickness of newly released boro rice varieties BRRI dhan86, BRRI dhan89, and BRRI dhan92 were studied using four seeding rates (130, 140, 150, 160 g/tray). Results revealed that BRRI dhan92 showed quick seedling emergence compared to BRRI dhan89 and BRRI dhan86. Seedling mortality was found the lowest BRRI dhan92 while the highest in BRRI dhan86. 25 - 30 days old seedling was found suitable for mechanical transplanting in terms of seedling mortality. Seedling height increased with the increase in seed density. BRRI dhan92 showed the highest stem thickness followed by BRRI dhan89 and BRRI dhan86 with seed rate 150 - 160 g per tray. The suitable seeding rate (150 - 160 g/tray) for the studied varieties was found better for raising mat-type seedlings suitable for mechanical transplanting, which could coordinate the production of larger population growth and higher harvest index to achieve high grain yield.

Combine Harvester: Small Machine Solves Big Rice Harvesting Problem of Bangladesh

Bangladesh, a country with 87% of rural households that depend on agriculture and rice dominated diets (70%), engages the country’s food security. Therefore, there is strong advocacy for a mechanized paddy harvesting system for food security in South Asia, mainly Bangladesh. Some harvesting machinery is available;however, the precise roles of a combine harvester during this process are little. This study attempts to understand the consequences of combining harvesters for paddy harvesting and compare them with hand harvesting. For comparison of field performance of combine harvester with traditional harvesting, the experiment was conducted at Gazipur District, Bangladesh, in 2016. Results showed that the labor required for harvesting unit area 283, 15 and 9.87 man-h∙ha−1 for T1 (Sickle + Head carry + Beating + Kula), T2 (Reaper + Trolley carry + Close drum thresher + winnower), T3 (Combine harvester) system, respectively. Likewise, the harvesting costs were 1.84 (T2) and 2.5 (T1) times higher than the combine harvester (T3). Also, the postharvest loss can be saved 1.84%, to use combine harvester over manual harvesting of paddy. The above result revealed that the semi-mechanized and mechanized harvesting system is a time, labor and cost-saving system;however, the manual reaping system is concerned with more postharvest losses (3.09%). This study highlights the importance of combine harvester;however, further research is required in other places with large and mini-combine harvesters under diverse cropping areas and to test a combine harvester’s detailed potentiality.