ARTICLE INFO Article history:Bangladesh has an agrarian economy in which paddy is the dominant crop. Significant amount of field losses of paddy occurs every year due to natural calamities and shortage of time during harvesting period. During this study, a modification was done on locally developed BAU self-propelled reaper and its performance was compared with manual harvesting system of paddy. Several experiments were conducted in Boro paddy (April-May 2017) and Aman paddy harvesting (November-December 2017) at BAU farm of Bangladesh Agricultural University after necessary modification works in the workshop. An experiment was also conducted on Aman paddy in 2017 at BAU farm for determining manual harvesting cost. The technical and economic performances of the modified BAU self-propelled reaper were determined based on the field experiments. Results reveal that average fuel consumption, effective field capacity and field efficiency were 2.71 L/ha, 0.255 ha/h and 77.27%, respectively for the modified BAU self-propelled reaper, and 2.88 L/ha, 0.25 ha/h and 75.76%, respectively for the existing BAU selfpropelled reaper. These results indicated that field performances of modified BAU self-propelled reaper were better than that of the existing BAU reaper. Paddy harvesting cost was found 916 Tk/ha for modified BAU self-propelled reaper and 9200 Tk/ha for manual harvesting system. Benefit cost ratio of the modified BAU self-propelled reaper was 2.18. Considering the technical and economic performances, modified BAU self-propelled reaper was found suitable than the existing BAU reaper. So, the modified BAU self-propelled reaper may be introduced in Bangladesh in commercial basis.

The present study was carried out at Nuclear Research Center, Atomic Energy Authority, Inshas, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt, during the two consecutive seasons of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 to study the effect of using different gamma irradiation doses, potassium fertilization levels and their interaction treatments on gridgeth, yield components, fixed oil percentage and leaf green color degree (SPAD-unit) of borage (Borago officinalis, L.) plant. The used gamma irradiation treatments were 0 (control), 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 kilo rad (kr). Whereas, potassium fertilization levels were 0 (without K addition), 50 and 100 kg potassium sulphate/faddan, each treatment of gamma irradiation doses was combined with each level of potassium fertilization to form 18 interaction treatments. The obtained results cleared that using gamma irradiation dose of 2 kr increased most values of plant height, dry weight of herb per plant, number of inflorescences per plant, seed yield per plant and per faddan, fixed oil percentage and leaf green color degree. Furthermore, the maximum increase in this respect was obtained from the potassium fertilization treatment of 100 kg potassium sulphate/faddan compared with the other ones under study. Generally, the interaction treatment between 2 kr of gamma irradiation with 100 kg potassium sulphate/faddan of potassium fertilization mostly gave the maximum increase in the above mentioned parameters. Therefore, it seems to be recommended treatment under Sharkia Governorate conditions. Moreover, potassium fertilization at 100 kg potassium sulphate/faddan could be overcome the harmful effect of gamma irradiation in this respect on borage plant.