evaluation of different rice harvesting methods in gilan province

rice is one of the most important staple cereals‏ ‏in iran and has a main role in providing ‎the food ‎security. harvesting by hand postpone the rice harvesting stage, and facing late season ‎rainfall, and increase of yield losses during harvesting. to determine the most suitable ‎harvesting method in gilan, three different harvesting methods (by hand, harvester and ‎combine) were considered as treatments ‎and four different cities as blocks. the effective farm ‎capacity, percent of total losses, ‎percent of harvesting losses, number of workers and harvest ‎costs were determined. ‎the difference of percent of total losses and other ‎factors were ‎significant in different harvesting methods. ‎effective farm capacity in harvesting with harvester ‎was more than other methods. harvesting by combine had the lowest losses percent (1.92%). in ‎harvesting by hand 98.3 percent of harvesting costs were ‎related to harvesting and collecting of ‎crops. in lands that have been ‎consolidated, using combine and in small scale the use of ‎harvester are recommended. ‎