As increasing the productivity per unit area of land has been given top priority in developing countries to meet the demand of the growing population, crop production research in agricultural universities and national research centres has been reoriented as cropping systems research. As a result, there is a need among research workers and post-graduate students for a comprehensive book containing the recent information on the research work and methodology on the subject. This book gives the basic principles and broadly accepted definitions of terms frequently used in the literature. A short review of the cropping systems work done in the tropics, particularly in India, is presented. The various management aspects of intensive cropping systems are discussed and the research methodology that could be adopted is elucidated. Possible future lines of work are given in the final chapter.