Amaranth to Zai Holes, Ideas for Growing Food under Difficult Conditions (ECHO, 1996, 397 p.): 28 additional technical notes about tropical agriculture: Ground covers and green manures

Amaranth to Zai Holes, Ideas for Growing Food under Difficult Conditions (ECHO, 1996, 397 p.)

28 additional technical notes about tropical agriculture

		A few alternate seed sources that we commonly use
		Amaranth - grain and vegetable
		Arid region farming primer
		Citrus propagation and rootstocks
		Cucurbit seeds
		Dry farming
		Muscovy ducks for png villages
		Fruit crops
		Fruit vegetables
		Grain crops
		Ground covers and green manures
		Green manure crops
		Industrial crops
		The lablab bean as green manure
		Leafy vegetables
		Leguminous vegetables
		The moringa tree
		Recipes to learn to eat moringa
		Miscellaneous vegetables
		The poor man's plow
		Pulses (grain legumes)
		Rabbit raising in the tropics
		Letter from fremont regier, mennonite central committee, Botswana (and earlier in Zaire)
		Roots and tubers
		Sunnhemp as a green manure
		The sweet potato
		Tropical pasture and feed crops
		The velvet bean as green manure

Ground covers and green manures

This group includes any rapidly growing crop that covers and protects the soil and that can be left as a mulch or plowed under to enrich the soil. Legumes are emphasized because of their ability to fix nitrogen and the large amount of foliage (and thus organic matter) produced. As a group, these crops are adapted principally to the hot, somewhat moist, tropics, but some are adapted to all tropical climates. They can all be established by seed, but some root at the nodes and can be established from cuttings. ECHO does not provide inoculants; see Agroforester, Liphatec, and BNF in listing at back for sources.

· Butterfly pea. Clitoria ternatea. Very drought tolerant, but does not compete well with weeds.

· Cowpea. Vigna unguiculata, V. vexillata. See Pulses.

· Hairy Indigo. Indigofera hirsuta. Summer cover crop in Florida; reseeding annual; nematode-suppressant; prefers well drained and droughty sites; for hay and grazing.

· Jack bean. Canavalia ensiformis. Drought tolerant; see under Leguminous Vegetables. (EDN 12-1, 20-2).

· Kudzu, tropical. Pueraria phaseoloides. Not the weedy temperate kudzu (EDN 12-6, 42-5).

· Lablab bean. Dolichos lablab . White, Rongai, and Highworth are excellent field varieties. Choose one or a variety trial; see under Leguminous Vegetables. (EDN 12-1).

· "Lee" or American Joint Vetch. Aeschynomene americana. Green manure and forage good for low areas or drainage ditches, >1000 mm rain.

· Sword bean. Canavalia gladiata. Drought tolerant; see under Leguminous Vegetables.

· Sunnhemp. Crotalaria juncea is becoming popular in East Africa. Crotalaria ochroleuca is an upright, non-vining legume; good for intercropping. Not poisonous to livestock, unlike most Crotalarias (EDN 26-5). C. ochroleuca may have poisonous seeds, forage before it goes to seed.

· Tephrosia. Tephrosia vogelii. Used as green manure and insect control. (EDN 42-5).

· Velvet bean. Mucuna deeringiana. Vigorous, drought resistant; see under Pulses. Tropical and 90-Day. (EDN 12-1,33-1).

· Winged bean.Psophocarpus etragonolobus. See under Leguminous Vegetables.