A survey on the ecological sustainability of introducing new crops in the cropping pattern using emergy approach

Subject Areas : Journal of Plant Ecophysiology

samin fallahinejad ¹ , mohammad Armin ² , Mohammad Asgharipour ³

1 - Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Sabzevar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sabzevar, Iran
2 - دانشیار، گروه زراعت و اصلاح نباتات، واحد سبزوار، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، سبزوار، ایران
3 - Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran

Received: 2020-10-19 Accepted : 2020-10-29 Published : 2021-04-21

Keywords: Cropping Pattern, Environmental impacts, emergy analysis, Production sustainability,

Abstract :

Emergy analysis is an appropriate strategy for assessing the sustainability of agricultural production systems in a region. In this study, the sustainability of production of four widely grown crops, including wheat and barley,sugar beet and saffron were compared using emergy approach in Khoushab County, Khorasan Razavi province, Iran. The total supporting emergy for wheat, barley, sugar beet and saffron was respectively 2.32E+16, 1.91E+16, 4.95E+16, and 2.04E+16 sej ha-1. The greatest portion of renewable environmental resources were obtained in sugar beet production systems (4.1% of total emergy), and non-renewable environmental resources occurred in barley production systems (55.7% of total emergy). Saffron production systems showed the greatest portion of renewable and non-renewable purchased resources (40.80 and 36.48%). Introduction of saffron and sugar beet as new crops in a given region, compared to wheat and barley as preceding crops in the cropping pattern, caused enhancement in renewable emergy ratio, environmental loading ratio, modified environmental sustainability index, and emergy input ratio, while decreased emergy yield ratio, modified environmental loading ratio, environmental sustainability index, and sustainable development emergy index. Saffron and sugar beet production as new introduced crops to the region resulted in the highest modified environmental sustainability index. Although the environmental loading ratio index of saffron cultivation was higher than other production systems, modified environmental loading ratio was lower than the three other production systems. Therefore, saffron can be recommended as a sustainable crop that has put the lowest pressure on environmental resources.

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