Ilus.; 17 ref.

This paper begins with a discussion of the use of legumes, in general, for dryland farming which includes a critical assessment of an early, long-term, dryland cereal-legume rotation study conducted at several locations in Montana. This was followed by brief descriptions and reports on several modern legume-cereal rotation experiments designed according to CREST Farming strategy. Specifically, the experiments provide data on: 1) the use of legumes to control nitrogen fertility rather than controlling it with a fallow period and the use of chemical nitrogen fertilizer; 2) the potential of annual legumes, such as faba bean, as alternate cash crops; and 3) the management of the cryland water resource. Includes in the latter is a set of experiments initiated in May 1988 to limit (control) the amount of water used (evapotranspired) by the legume green-manure crop top a predetermined allocation. These experiments will also provide some base data on biomass production and tissue N content which can be used to limit the amount of N fixed by the legume, green-manure crop top a predetermined amount geared to the predicted needs of the ensuing cereal crop. (MIBA)