SUMMAEY AND CONCLUSIONS 



A 2-year study on four vegetable cropping patterns was conducted 

 at the Horticultural Unit of the University of Florida, Gainesville, in 

 1977 to 1979- The objectives of this study were to evaluate productiv- 

 ity, resource use, and profitability of several vegetable crops planted 

 in four year-round cropping patterns for North Florida, to determine 

 and evaluate the influence of crop and fertilizer management levels on 

 productivity, income, and nutrient levels in soil from four vegetable 

 cropping patterns, and to develop appropriate crop and fertilizer manage- 

 ment practices for sequential vegetable cropping systems. 



To achieve the first objective, seven vegetable crops including 

 bulb onion, pole bean, collard, crookneck squash, English pea, mustard, 

 and southern pea were classified into low (LM), medium (MM), and high 

 (HM) management groups. These management groups were based on average 

 costs of fertilizers, pesticides, cultural labor, and a 5-year average 

 bar-vesting costs for producing each vegetable crop. 



Four basic cropping patterns were developed using combinations 

 of seven vegetable crops. Two cropping patterns were three HM crops 

 pl.anted in sequence (bulb onion-pole bean-collard) , and three LK crops 

 planted in sequence (English pea-southern pea-southern pea). The other 

 two cropping patterns were a combination of LM, MM, and HI4 crops planted 

 in sequence as follows; HM-MM-I14 (bulb onion-squash-southern pea) and 

 HM-LM-MM (bulb onion-southern pea-mustard) . The four cropping patterns 

 were arrainged in a randomized block design with four replications. To 

 achieve the second and third objectives, three levels of fertilizer N 



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