10 

 grow three crops in sequence with vegetables such as sweet corn, English 

 pea, southeir. pea, and snap bean (5I , 52). These crops are planted 

 using zero tillsige and no fertilizer except for the sweet corn. The 

 vegetable legumes utilize the residual fertilizer from the preceding 

 crop to make more efficient use of soil nutrients. Double cropping of 

 vegetables was feasible in South Florida (21, 43, 129). Butternut 

 squash produced high yields without additional fertilizer when planted 

 ai"ter tomato groi-m under full-bed plastic mulch (2l). In i.his study, 

 complete or partial incorporation of fertilizer in beds under mulch 

 resulted in higher yields of tomato and second crop butternut squash 

 than banding all the fertilizer on top of the bed. Everett (43) reported 

 that yields of tomato or cucumber planted as second crop on plastic 

 mulched beds previously planted tc fall tomato did not significantly 

 increase at fertilizer rates higher than 70 kg/ha N and lOO kg/ha X 

 regardless of placement methods. Thus, multiple cropping on mulched beds 

 cai: reduce energy use and production costs by permitting efficient use 

 of both physical and applied resources (2l). 



Small-scale farmers in the tropics have developed a variety of 

 intercropping systems involving vegetable crops (6, 24, 79, 92, I69) . 

 For example, short-maturing crops such as mungbean, cowpea, and soybean 

 ( Glycine max L.) can be intercropped >ath tall, short -maturing crops 

 such as com (84). Paner (12?) reported that vegetable crops can also 

 be intercropped with tall, long-maturing crops such as ii;.ungbean in 

 sugarcane ( Clac char-q.n offici n pjnjm L.), Also, tall permanent or perenniaj. 

 crops sucn as coconut ( Cocus n ucifera L.), r-abber ( Hevea brasilienses 

 L.;, banana '^ Musa sapientum L. Schaft) can be intercropped i-ath ginger 



