Assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions and energy inputs applying different weed control methods for wheat growing
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Kuupäev
2023
Kättesaadav alates
Autorid
Zagorska, V.
Ruciņš, A.
Viesturs, D.
Ivanovs, S.
Ajakirja pealkiri
Ajakirja ISSN
Köite pealkiri
Kirjastaja
Estonian University of Life Sciences
Abstrakt
Economic indicators are often used to evaluate and select technologies, determining the
production costs of the product. However, according to the EU's green course, the ecological
assessment of technologies is increasingly important. The purpose of the article is to comparatively
evaluate two winter wheat weed control methods, which are widely used in Latvia, according to
two ecological indicators - the amount of the GHG emissions and the energy consumption, to find
out whether these indicators can serve as a criterion for the selection of technologies. These two
methods are HA (harrowing), in which weeds are controlled by harrowing and herbicides, HE
(herbicides), in which weeds are controlled only by herbicides. The methodology for calculating the
mentioned indicators was developed by analyzing several studies by other authors. The total GHG
emissions generated are calculated as the sum of five components: emissions, generated for the
manufacture and delivery of the machinery used; emissions, generated by the fuel, consumed for
implementation of the technology; emissions, generated for the production, delivery and installation
of fertilizers; emissions, generated for the production, delivery and installation of pesticides, seed
production, delivery and installation emissions. Analogously, the total energy consumption is
calculated by summing the components The technologies were implemented on a specific farm,
with the machinery of this farm, labor, fertilizers and the plant protection products. It has been
established that the technologies differ by the calculated ecological indicators within the range of
1.2–2.6%; moreover, these indicators are lower for the technology with the herbicide spraying, and
the technology is simpler to implement. Therefore, it is also more widely used. Since the coefficients
for the calculation of the ecological indicators can be applied by the methodology of this article, the
characteristics of the technique and the doses of fertilizers and the plant protection agents, used on
the farms, are known, the ecological indicators can be used as an additional criterion for the selection
of technologies on the farms. The ratio of the energy value and energy consumption of the produced
product (the output and the input ratio) was also determined, this indicator for technologies HA and
HE being, respectively, 8.30 and 8.41. In comparison with the research by the authors in other
countries, from the point of view of the amount of the generated CO2-eq emissions and rational
consumption of energy, the analysed winter wheat production technologies are evaluated as
moderately efficient, but from the point of view of the energy value of the product produced and the
ratio of the energy consumption (the output and the input ratio) - as efficient.
Kirjeldus
Received: January 25th, 2023 ; Accepted: May 21st, 2023 ; Published: June 17th, 2023 ; Correspondence: viktorija.zagorska@llu.lv
Märksõnad
wheat growing, technologies, GHG emissions, energy input, energy output, articles