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.