Cleaner fruit production with green manure: The case of Brazilian melons

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION

卷:181

Article

Santos, Tdyane de Lima¹  Araujo Nunes, Ana Barbara¹  Giongo, Vanderlise²  Barros, Viviane da Silva³  Brito de Figueiredo, Maria Clea³ 

[1] Fed Univ Ceara UFC, Ave Univ 2853, BR-60020181 Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil

[2] Embrapa Semiarido, Rodovia BR-428,Km 152 S-N, BR-56302970 Petrolina, PE, Brazil

[3] Embrapa Agroind Trop, Rua Dra Sara Mesquita 2270, BR-60511110 Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil

关键词: Life cycle assessment;    Environmental impact assessment;    Crop rotation;    Cucumis melo;    Economic evaluation;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.12.266

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Cleaner fruit production has become important for producers worldwide because consumers and retail companies increasingly base their purchase decisions on environmental criteria. Green manure is a soil management practice that promotes soil nutrient enrichment and may improve crop yield. Nonetheless, the environmental impacts and economic analysis of combined green manure and tropical fruit production have not been performed. This work assesses the environmental impacts and profits resulting from the Brazilian melon, commercialized in Brazil. Melon production is analyzed under two cultivation systems: i) the conventional form practiced by farmers located in the Sao Francisco Valley region, Brazil, and ii) the conservationist system, based on a green manure experiment carried out in this same region. This study applies life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impacts of both systems, considering farm inputs production and transportation (energy power, fertilizers, pesticides, plastic, paper, and fuel) as well as melon production and transportation to the main national distribution market in Sao Paulo. The impact categories evaluated are climate change, soil acidification, freshwater and marine eutrophication, water depletion, human toxicity (cancer and non-cancer), and ecotoxicity. Scenario analysis is applied to assess impacts under different designed conditions for transportation, packing, and nitrogen fertilization. The profit analysis is performed by reducing the total production costs (inputs and services) from the revenue obtained from selling melons. Results indicate that the conservationist system causes lower impacts and lead to higher profit than the conventional system, for all assessed categories. The scenario analysis confirms that impacts can be further reduced in all categories when alternative melon transportation and fertilization practices are adopted. This work demonstrates that the environmental performance of Brazilian melon production can be improved with the addition of green manure and alternative transportation practices. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

【 授权许可】

Free