Analysis of Energy Indicators and Environmental Impacts of Dryland Cantaloupe Production with Life Cycle Assessment Approach (Case Study: Ilam)
Journal Title: Journal of Agricultural Machinery - Year 2021, Vol 11, Issue 2
Abstract
IntroductionCantaloupe is a one-year-old herb of gourds and edible fruit with very good properties. Cantaloupe is one of the best sources of vitamin A and is rich in beta carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the body. In addition, it contains other useful nutrients such as potassium, steel, fiber, magnesium, iodine and vitamins B5, B3, B6 and B1. Life cycle assessment in recent years has become an appropriate tool for assessing environmental impacts in agricultural and food industries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the life cycle assessment of this horticultural crop in terms of energy consumption and the environmental impacts in the city of Iwan West, Ilam province.Materials and MethodsThe data were collected from dryland cantaloupe producers in the city of Iwan West, Ilam province using questionnaires and interviews were collected from farmers. In this study, four important energy indices were energy use efficiency (EUE), energy productivity (EP), specific energy (SE), and net energy gain (NEG). Environmental impacts on dryland cantaloupe production were evaluated using a life cycle assessment approach and the obtained indexes were calculated using the CML 2 baseline 2000 model. Ecoinvent databases were used to access needed information and data analysis was done with Simapro software. In a life cycle assessment project, all production processes of a product from the stage of extraction of materials to disposal of the remaining waste from the product are reviewed and the results of the reduction of environmental degradation are applied. Each life cycle assessment project has four essential steps including, goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory, environmental impact assessment, and interpretation.Results and DiscussionInput and output energy analysis in dryland cantaloupe productionThe total input and output energies for dryland cantaloupe were calculated to be 39021.59 and 39190.43 MJ ha-1, respectively. Diesel fuel, agricultural machinery and nitrogen fertilizers were the most widely used energy inputs with 51%, 24%, and 14%, respectively. Energy use efficiency for dryland cantaloupe production was calculated at 1.004.Analysis of environmental impacts in dryland cantaloupe productionIn this study, the global warming potential per produced product in dryland cantaloupe production was estimated to be equal to 202.45 kgCO2 eq. from among inputs, diesel fuel had the most impact on the effects of abiotic depletion and ozone layer depletion, and in all parts of the effects of agricultural machinery and nitrogen fertilizers, the largest share of pollutants was allocated. The results of normalization showed that the effect of marine aquatic ecotoxicity and freshwater aquatic has the highest environmental burden on dryland cantaloupe production.ConclusionThe results of energy analysis showed that the total energy inputs were equal to 39021.59 MJ ha-1. Among inputs of diesel fuel, agricultural machinery, and nitrogen fertilizer were the most consumed energy inputs. The energy use efficiency index and the net energy in this study were 1.004 and 168.84 MJ ha-1, respectively. The results of environmental impacts had shown that diesel fuel, nitrogen fertilizer, and agricultural machinery had been most affected. It is recommended that proper management of agricultural machinery, equipping fields with new and suitable machines and avoiding the use of tractors and worn-out tools should be put in order to minimize the energy consumption and environmental pollutants generated by the production. Less use of chemical fertilizers (especially nitrogen) and its replacement with organic fertilizers can also be affected.
Authors and Affiliations
A. Kaab,M. Sharifi,H. Moradi,
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP717990
- DOI https://doi.org/10.22067/jam.v11i2.82119
- Views 42
- Downloads 0
Designing and Constructing an Active Boom Balancing System using a New Technique Variable Fulcrum Method and Comparing It with a Conventional Sprayer
Introduction According to reports on trends in the agricultural industry, demand for more precise and affordable machinery is rising and precision farming methods used by farmers are expanding. Damping vibration of the b...
Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon using Artificial Neural Network and Multiple Linear Regression Models based on Color Image Processing
Introduction The color of soil depends on its composition and this feature is easily available and rather stable. Fast and accurate determination of soil organic matter distribution in the agricultural fields is required...
Determining the most suitable frequency and shaking time for olive harvesting by a pneumatic branch shaker
Introduction Olive (Oleo europaea) includes about 20 species of small trees from Oleaceae family. This point should be considered that Iran has allocated only a small universal market to its olive products in spite of ha...
Evaluation of Dielectric Spectroscopy in Fusion with Vis-SWNIR Spectroscopy for the Measurement of Sugar Concentration in Sugarcane Stalk Samples
IntroductionThe development of portable devices for real-time quality assessment of sugarcane is an essential necessity in the agricultural and industrial technology of sugarcane production and processing. Attributes of...
Designing and Developing a Machine Vision System to Predict the Chlorophyll and Carotenoid Content of Plant Leaves
Introduction Leaf color is usually used as a guide for assessments of nutrient status and plant health. Most of the existing methods that examined relationships between chlorophyll status and carotenoid of leaf color wer...