A rotation system of corn (Zea mays L.) with Mucuna sp. has spread along the Atlantic Littoral of Honduras, known by the farmers as "abonera". Due that there is little known about the factors intluencing the adoption process, the present study was eondueted to identify them, as well as to determine the profitability of the system in the short and the long run and to set up the factors and mechanisms affecting this profitability. The study was conducted in the Department of Atlantida and comprises part of the Distric of La Ceiba and the Districs of Jutiapa, San Francisco and Tela. An expansion of the partial budget analysis and an incremental analysis for a period, in order to account for the effects along the time, were used as tools for evaluating its profitability. Six years were taken, for the analysis, as the average life span of the "abonera". It was found in the economical evaluation that the "abonera" is more profitable than the traditional system from the second year onwards. If the profitability approach is the return of the family hand labor, the "abonera" system is al so more profitable starting at the second year and remains so for the rest of the periodo.

Synopsis Restrictions in irrigation on potato growing applied at different periods of their vegetative cycle produced a decrease of the tuber's yield for all the treatments compared to the check, with the exception of those planted without pre‐seeding irrigation. Statistical results show that drought treatment from stolonization to the beginning of tuberization gave significant differences as related to the check. Apparently the variety “White Rose” passes through the most critical water requirement period during this stage.

The soil, nutrient and water conservation is the main problem faced by farmers and investigators under the corn crop-based systems in Central America and Mexico. Several farmers from Honduras have come up with an efficient technology for the corn planted on hills, in which the bean manure is planted in rotation with corn during the dry season. The results from the conducted survey, at the Departamento de Atlantida in Honduras, indicate that 66 % of the farmers grow most of the corn through the protective mat produced by the beans during the rainy season. Among the advantages of this rotation, compared to the traditional burned and cleared land, are the higher yields with les ser dependency of external imputs, shorter rest periods, lower land preparation costs, less soil erosion and lower risk of drought damages. The problems linked to the diffusion ofthe system include the risk ofland slides and a higher plague's incidence (rats) on the corn planted through the manure mat. Usually, the amount of land available in the regionalland markets is the determining factor on the diffusion of this system, and not the size of the farm nor the form of land tenancy.

Two years of field experiments with onion crops (Allium cepa, L.) show that this plant is differentially sensitive to drought in each stage of its vegetative cycle. Drought at the seedling stage increases the rate of foliar emergence, produces a greater number of leaves, accelerates bulb formation by 15 days, and increases the final weight as compared with the check (no significant difference). When drought occurs at the beginning of the bulb formation, it causes a delay in foliar emergence, a smaller number of leaves, and a decrease in bulb weight (a significant difference as compared with the check). In other stages of the cycle (post‐transplanting, and 50 and 100% of the bb's weight), the drought does not cause significant damage to the plant's growth.