The purpose of this study is to establish a systematic mechanized farm operation program suitable for the Muda area in Malaysia based on the use of the drive harrow, transplanter, head-feeding combine and large combine harvester.
The method of raising mat seedlings using mountain soil had already been established. To further increase the adaptability of the method to the Muda area, efforts were made to use puddled paddy soil, simplify the working method and transportation of mat seedlings. As for the land preparation, two rounds of tilling with a wide and shallow tiller drive harrow were tested mainly, and the adaptability of this method to the field was examined at an early time after harvesting, when a large amount of fresh straws still remains in the field.
In the transplanting operation, four-row walking type transplanter was found to be a high performance machine in the on-farm test field. At the latest stage of this study, six-row riding type transplanter was tested also.
The studies on harvesting operation were started using the head-feeding combine "KANAN" mainly, and the performance of this machine was found to be lower than that of the large combine. Therefore, a new commercial type head-feeding combine was tested. Moreover, the performance of the large combine was reassessed due to the diffusion of this machine in the Muda area and, the differences in the performance between these two types of combine were clarified.
To analyze the characteristics of the mechanized working system, comparison was made between the mechanized working system and the present farmers' working systems.