IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i19p11108-d651709.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dairy Buffalo Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Affected by a Management Choice: The Production of Wheat Crop

Author

Listed:
  • Elio Romano

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing, CREA-IT, 24047 Treviglio, Italy)

  • Pasquale De Palo

    (Department of Medicine Veterinary, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70010 Valenzano, Italy)

  • Flavio Tidona

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre Animal Production and Aquaculture, CREA-ZA, 26900 Lodi, Italy)

  • Aristide Maggiolino

    (Department of Medicine Veterinary, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70010 Valenzano, Italy)

  • Andrea Bragaglio

    (Department of Medicine Veterinary, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70010 Valenzano, Italy)

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed in dairy buffalo farms representative of Southern Italian farming systems, similar due to several characteristics, with the exception of wheat production. This work evaluated the impacts derived from this management choice, comparing farms with wheat crop (WWC) or not (NWC). In agreement with the literature, economic allocation was chosen as a useful strategy to attribute equivalents to by-products, i.e., culled animals; the same criterion was also adopted to assign pollutants to wheat grain, limited to WWC farms. Environmental impacts in terms of Global Warming Potential (GWP, kg CO 2 eq), Acidification Potential (AC, g SO 2 eq), Eutrophication Potential (EU, g PO 4 3- eq), Agricultural Land Occupation (ALO, m 2 y) and Water Depletion (WD, m 3 ) were estimated. The production of wheat crop significantly affected (p < 0.05) the Agricultural Land Occupation (ALO) category as WWC farms need adequate land. WWC farms could allow a significant reduction in eutrophication (EU) compared to NWC farms (p < 0.05).

Suggested Citation

  • Elio Romano & Pasquale De Palo & Flavio Tidona & Aristide Maggiolino & Andrea Bragaglio, 2021. "Dairy Buffalo Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Affected by a Management Choice: The Production of Wheat Crop," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:19:p:11108-:d:651709
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/11108/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/11108/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sabia, Emilio & Napolitano, Fabio & Claps, Salvatore & De Rosa, Giuseppe & Barile, Vittoria Lucia & Braghieri, Ada & Pacelli, Corrado, 2018. "Environmental impact of dairy buffalo heifers kept on pasture or in confinement," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 42-49.
    2. Arjen Y. Hoekstra, 2017. "Water Footprint Assessment: Evolvement of a New Research Field," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(10), pages 3061-3081, August.
    3. Patra, Amlan Kumar & Pal, Kaushik & Lalhriatpuii, Melody, 2020. "Prediction of nitrogen excretion in buffalo production systems using dietary and animal variables," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    4. Andrea Bragaglio & Ada Braghieri & Corrado Pacelli & Fabio Napolitano, 2020. "Environmental Impacts of Beef as Corrected for the Provision of Ecosystem Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, May.
    5. Elio Romano & Rocco Roma & Flavio Tidona & Giorgio Giraffa & Andrea Bragaglio, 2021. "Dairy Farms and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): The Allocation Criterion Useful to Estimate Undesirable Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-24, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Bragaglio & Aristide Maggiolino & Elio Romano & Pasquale De Palo, 2022. "Role of Corn Silage in the Sustainability of Dairy Buffalo Systems and New Perspective of Allocation Criterion," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-24, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrea Bragaglio & Aristide Maggiolino & Elio Romano & Pasquale De Palo, 2022. "Role of Corn Silage in the Sustainability of Dairy Buffalo Systems and New Perspective of Allocation Criterion," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-24, June.
    2. Ehsan Qasemipour & Farhad Tarahomi & Markus Pahlow & Seyed Saeed Malek Sadati & Ali Abbasi, 2020. "Assessment of Virtual Water Flows in Iran Using a Multi-Regional Input-Output Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    3. Long Zhang & Xiaoyu Luan & Xinyi Chen & Shuhao Zhang & Yukun Liang & Zhaojie Cui, 2022. "Water Footprint Inventory Construction of Cathode Copper Products in a Chinese Eco-Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-15, May.
    4. George Tsakiris, 2017. "Facets of Modern Water Resources Management: Prolegomena," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(10), pages 2899-2904, August.
    5. Dimitrios P. Platis & Christos D. Anagnostopoulos & Aggeliki D. Tsaboula & Georgios C. Menexes & Kiriaki L. Kalburtji & Andreas P. Mamolos, 2019. "Energy Analysis, and Carbon and Water Footprint for Environmentally Friendly Farming Practices in Agroecosystems and Agroforestry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-11, March.
    6. Li, Zhibin & Feng, Bianbian & Wang, Wei & Yang, Xi & Wu, Pute & Zhuo, La, 2022. "Spatial and temporal sensitivity of water footprint assessment in crop production to modelling inputs and parameters," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    7. Andrea Bragaglio & Ada Braghieri & Corrado Pacelli & Fabio Napolitano, 2020. "Environmental Impacts of Beef as Corrected for the Provision of Ecosystem Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, May.
    8. Tomaz, Alexandra & Palma, José Ferro & Ramos, Tiago & Costa, Maria Natividade & Rosa, Elizabete & Santos, Marta & Boteta, Luís & Dôres, José & Patanita, Manuel, 2021. "Yield, technological quality and water footprints of wheat under Mediterranean climate conditions: A field experiment to evaluate the effects of irrigation and nitrogen fertilization strategies," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    9. Elio Romano & Rocco Roma & Flavio Tidona & Giorgio Giraffa & Andrea Bragaglio, 2021. "Dairy Farms and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): The Allocation Criterion Useful to Estimate Undesirable Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-24, April.
    10. Zafar Hussain & Zongmin Wang & Jiaxue Wang & Haibo Yang & Muhammad Arfan & Daniyal Hassan & Wusen Wang & Muhammad Imran Azam & Muhammad Faisal, 2022. "A comparative Appraisal of Classical and Holistic Water Scarcity Indicators," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 36(3), pages 931-950, February.
    11. Fernández, J.E. & Alcon, F. & Diaz-Espejo, A. & Hernandez-Santana, V. & Cuevas, M.V., 2020. "Water use indicators and economic analysis for on-farm irrigation decision: A case study of a super high density olive tree orchard," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    12. Cai, Beiming & Jiang, Ling & Liu, Yu & Wang, Feng & Zhang, Wei & Yan, Xu & Ge, Zhenzi, 2023. "Regional trends and socioeconomic drivers of energy-related water use in China from 2007 to 2017," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    13. Orsolya Tompa & Anna Kiss & Matthieu Maillot & Eszter Sarkadi Nagy & Ágoston Temesi & Zoltán Lakner, 2022. "Sustainable Diet Optimization Targeting Dietary Water Footprint Reduction—A Country-Specific Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-21, February.
    14. Radini, Serena & Marinelli, Enrico & Akyol, Çağrı & Eusebi, Anna Laura & Vasilaki, Vasileia & Mancini, Adriano & Frontoni, Emanuele & Bischetti, Gian Battista & Gandolfi, Claudio & Katsou, Evina & Fat, 2021. "Urban water-energy-food-climate nexus in integrated wastewater and reuse systems: Cyber-physical framework and innovations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    15. Emily Grubert, 2023. "Yellow, red, and brown energy: leveraging water footprinting concepts for decarbonizing energy systems," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 7239-7260, July.
    16. Karandish, Fatemeh & Šimůnek, Jiří, 2019. "A comparison of the HYDRUS (2D/3D) and SALTMED models to investigate the influence of various water-saving irrigation strategies on the maize water footprint," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 809-820.
    17. Marcelo Werneck Barbosa & José M. Cansino, 2022. "A Water Footprint Management Construct in Agri-Food Supply Chains: A Content Validity Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, April.
    18. Rodriguez, Renata del G. & Scanlon, Bridget R. & King, Carey W. & Scarpare, Fabio V. & Xavier, Alexandre C. & Pruski, Fernando F., 2018. "Biofuel-water-land nexus in the last agricultural frontier region of the Brazilian Cerrado," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 1330-1345.
    19. Maziar Mohammadi & Hamid Darabi & Fahimeh Mirchooli & Alireza Bakhshaee & Ali Torabi Haghighi, 2021. "Flood risk mapping and crop-water loss modeling using water footprint analysis in agricultural watershed, northern Iran," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 105(2), pages 2007-2025, January.
    20. Amin, M.G. Mostofa & Mahbub, S.M. Mubtasim & Hasan, Md. Moudud & Pervin, Wafa & Sharmin, Jinat & Hossain, Md. Delwar, 2023. "Plant–water relations in subtropical maize fields under mulching and organic fertilization," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:19:p:11108-:d:651709. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.