Shirali Kohkan; Seyed Ahmad Ghanbari; Mohammad Reza Asgharipour; Barat Ali Fakheri
Abstract
This study was conducted using the emergy analysis approach in wheat production systems in order to plan and manage the major challenges facing the Sistan region's wheat production. All inputs for wheat production, the most important crop in the region, were assessed in this study. These inputs include ...
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This study was conducted using the emergy analysis approach in wheat production systems in order to plan and manage the major challenges facing the Sistan region's wheat production. All inputs for wheat production, the most important crop in the region, were assessed in this study. These inputs include renewable inputs, such as sunlight, wind, and rain; nonrenewable inputs, such as soil erosion; and purchased inputs and services, such as machinery, fossil fuels, electricity, labor, nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and chemical fertilizers. According to the results of the study, the total emergy production of wheat was 1.061016 sej ha-1. The irrigation water consumed the most energy at 28.96%, followed by nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers at 20.75 and 16.5%, respectively. The emergy yield ratio index was 1.41, the emergy investment ratio index was 2.4, the environmental loading ratio was 2.41, and the emergy sustainability index was 0.585, which indicates the average sustainability and environmental load of this system relative to other researchers' reports. By increasing input efficiency by optimizing the consumption of irrigation water, nitrogen fertilizer, and phosphorus fertilizer, this production system can be made more sustainable and less taxing on the environment.
Hamid Reza Shahhoseini; Hossein Kazemi
Abstract
Excessive use of environmental resources and excessive consumption of chemicals have exacerbated environmental problems and harmed agroecosystem sustainability. As a result, it is beneficial to study energy consumption patterns and efficient energy use in agriculture, which is one of the fundamental ...
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Excessive use of environmental resources and excessive consumption of chemicals have exacerbated environmental problems and harmed agroecosystem sustainability. As a result, it is beneficial to study energy consumption patterns and efficient energy use in agriculture, which is one of the fundamental principles of sustainable agriculture. The aim of this study was to assess the sustainability of rapeseed production (Brassica napus L.) in Gorgan county during the 2017-2018 crop year using emergy essessment. Sixty questionnaires were considered for this purpose. After establishing spatial and temporal boundaries and classifying resources into four categories: renewable environment, non-renewable environment, purchased renewable, and purchased non-renewable, and some emergy indices were calculated in rapeseed agroecosystems. The results indicated that the total emergy input for the rapeseed agroecosystems consumed a total of 6.39E+15 sej ha-1 yr-1. In rapeseed agroecosystems, dependence on market and non-renewable inputs was much higher than environmental and renewable inputs. With 59.94 percent of total emergy input in rapeseed agroecosystems, fossil fuels were the primary source of emergy. The transformity of rapeseed agroecosystems was 1.09E+05 sej J-1, the specific emergy was 3.09E+09 sej gr-1, the renewability was 12.46 percent, the emergy yield ratio was 1.22, the standard emergy investment ratio was 4.56, the modified emergy investment ratio was 9.23, the standard environmental loading ratio was 10.25, the modified environmental loading ratio was 7.02, the standard emergy sustainability index was 0.12, and the modified emergy sustainability index was 0.17. Based on the evaluation of emergy indices, the rapeseed agroecosystem has an acceptable crop production efficiency and resource consumption efficiency, and a significant potential for economic productivity increase. By implementing conservation tillage and modernizing machinery, will reduce our reliance on non-renewable and economic inputs, alleviate environmental pressure, and increase the agroecosystem's sustainability.