The effect of binder kicking forces on the shattering losses of paddy rice, which has been widely understood as an outstanding loss factor in harvesting with a binder, were experimentally assessed in this thesis.Through the field tests the optimum time of harvest, in terms of grain moisture contents, was found by considering harvesting losses for two rice varieties, harvested by two different binders, at four or five grain moisture levels.A device was designed and manufactured to apply various kicking forces to the bundles and was used in the bundle kicking tests. It was intended to find out the optimum range of kicking force to minimize the kicking losses. Based on the study, modification of the existing binder kicking mechanism was suggested. The following is a summary of the results of this thesis. 1. In Suweon 258 variety, as the grain moisture content is reduced, so the cutting loss and the kicking loss increase. The grain losses range from 0.77 to 0.82 percent of total field yield for the cutting loss, from 1.83 to 2.01 percent for the kicking loss, and from 2.60 to 2.83 percent for the field loss, when the moisture content is about 22 percent. 2. In Jinheung variety , the field losses increased as the grain moisture content decreased . When the moisture content was 20 percent, the field loss, cutting loss and kicking loss was 0.42-0.49 % , 0.30-0.35, and 0.12 -0.14% of the total field yield, respectively. 3. The difference in the field loss , cutting loss, and kicking loss for the two binders was 0.23% , 0.05% and 0.18% respectively in Suweon 258 variety, and 0.07% , 0.02% and 0.05% respectively ini Jinheung variety. The grain losses for binder B were slightly higher than those for binder A. 4. In the statistical analysis of each variety , the kicking force and the moisture content of the grain, and its interaction were all highly significant at 1% level by T test .The optimum kicking force was found to be in the 3.0-0.4kg range. This does not interrupt the binder operation, while ioses are kept to an acceptale level. 5. To reduce the kicking force of the eXlstmg binder mechanism, the speed of rotation of the kicking arm needs to be redued by increasing the number of driving sprocket teeth, and the position and gear ratio of the knotter-bill and driving bevelgear have to be change to give a !motter-bill speed of 1110 rpm. It is also desirable to attach a belt conveyor which smoothly carries the bundle to the ground. 6. The optimum harvesting time cased on maximum field yield was found to be at a grain moisture content of around 22 percent for Suweon 258 variety, and 20 percent for Jinheung variety. Tota] field yield and field yield at the time amounted to 9, 812.5 kg/ha, 9, 302. 5kg/ha respectively for the Suweon 258, and 7, 819.5 kg/ ha, 7, 158.7 kg/ha respectively for the Jinheung variety.