Farm machinery management deals with the optimization of the equipment used for agricultural production. It is concerned with efficient selection, operation, maintenance, and replacement of machinery. Farm machinery selection is a fundamental in achieving the concept of sustainable agriculture, which becomes a global issue in agricultural sector development1 .Proper management and selection of implement contributes greatly in reducing cost and difficulties in field operations, maximizes production and also protects the environment against pollution.

Sugar industry in Sudan, started in the sixties and reached its present size in the eighties. Sugar industry has a significant contribution to the national income and the economy of the country. Sugar cane in Sudan is now grown in the central clay plains and the expansion in this region depends in the suitable soil, availability of irrigation water and machinery. The production of sugar cane involves many operations from planting to harvesting. It is produced either by planting stalks of cane or by ratoon. 2 considered the following operations as common practices in sugar cane field; uprooting,by chisel, disc or shape ploughs, harrowing, with discs or tines to form a suitable seedbed. Then leveling and furrows made by furrowing bodies for planting seed cane. For planting, cane is usually placed in furrows and covered with soil. 3 recommended planting depth of 8 cm in sandy soils and found that depth was not so important in heavy cracking clay soils. To maximize cane yields, the distance between cane rows should be the smallest which allows cultivation with modern equipment4. Where the plant is about three months old, soil should be transferred from the inter-rows to the planting rows so that the plant gets better anchorage and resistance to lodging. This also helps prevent water logging at the base of stalks and improves irrigation efficiency, besides, the practice is necessary for mechanized harvesting operations5.

The concept of combined implement was found to be of great importance to carry out more than one operation at the same time and to conserve energy and time and to save labour cost. Some pioneer studies were carried out to combine tillage implements with planting machines as a minimum tillage combined systems678 found that combining tillage tools in two types of soils resulted in saving about 44-55% of the cost and 50-55% of the time. 9 described a combined chisel-planter as a minimum tillage implement, for reducing erosion. The minimum tillage system was developed by combining through successive practical in the area (a chisel plow, fertilizers applicator and seed drill with double disc furrow openers). It was classified as tillage – planting machine. The interest for minimum tillage or no tillage methods of seeding involve saving time and energy. He also concluded that the chisel –planter used 70% less fuel, and 49% less time per acre than conventional system. 10 stated that the combination of a rotary tiller and pneumatic seeder was found to be suitable for one-pass plow-seeding operation as a minimum tillage system for fuel and time saving. 6 stated that the ridger- planter as one pass operating machine, the conventional mechanical system of planting (separate ridger and planter) was nearly double that of combined ridger-planter and field capacity of the combination was approximately double that of the mechanical system and twelve times the manual, which allows times saving and expansion of the cultivable area.

Carried out an experiment to study the performance of a primary and secondary tillage implements combined into one machine and was evaluated in the field and compared with the individual implements, chisel and ridger for unit draft, power, slippage, fuel consumption and time.11 The results showed that the combined implement reduced the unit draft by 26% compared to the individual implements work together. The power requirements and the total times were reduced by 49% and 47% respectively by the combined implement.

The main objective of the present study was to develop and evaluate a combined machine formed from three implements, rigid tine cultivator, furrow reformer and fertilizer applicator to increase field productively, reduce farm power and lower operational costs and time. Therefore, the specific objectives are: To evaluate the field performance of the combined machine compared to the individual implements. The parameters investigated and measured were field capacity and efficiency, fuel consumption and power requirement.

The experiment was carried out at Kenana cane fields (heavy clay soil). The soil is 15% sand, 22% silt, 63% clay (Kenana research department). Kenana Latitude is 13°8'16"N   and Long 33°0'31"E.

An experimental plot consalmaisting of four treatments and three replicates was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD). The treatments consisted of four implements

Two Massey Ferguson tractors (MF440) were used for the experimental measurements. The specifications of the tractors are given in table 1.

The implements used in this study were rigid tine cultivator, furrow reformer, fertilizer applicator and the combined field cultivator which developed as a two row cultivator. The specifications of these implements are shown in table 2. The size of the plots was 100 m×3 m. The plots were separated by 3 m wide buffer strips and there was 6 m gap between 2 plots for the tractor. Other equipment such as Chain- bolts- stop watch- paper sheets- tape meter (50m) - steel rods- steel container (4 gallons) - measuring cylinder (1 lit.) and dynamometer (50_300 KN) were also used.

The cultivator consists of six rigid tynes, equipped with replaceable chisel points, staggered on a rugged tool bar in twos, for each furrow there were three tynes, two in the front row, and third in the second row, at the center of the two front tynes. The front tynes were to loosen the sides of the furrows and to provide grooves for placement of fertilizers. The center tynes were to loosen the middle of the furrows to provide more loose soil for coverage of fertilizers and reshaping of the ridges and furrows. The fertilizer applicator consists of fertilizer hoper, metering devices, and delivery tubes. There were two main hopers one for each row. Capacities of the compartment were 300kg of fertilizer.

The metering devices were tractor-PTO driven mechanism specially designed for the machine. Fertilizer displacement (flow) was controllable through the setting of the drive linkages. Delivery tubes attached to the outlets of the metering devices and clamped to the backs of the front times. The furrowing unit was a set of two moldboards, in addition to ridge and furrow reformation, furrowers were to cover fertilizer.

The combined field cultivator was developed as a two row cultivator, tractor mounted machine. It was designed to comprise functional components of a chisel cultivator, furrower and a fertilizer applicator. (The specifications of this machine is shown in table 3