IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i10p4012-d1392149.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Maize No-Till Agroecosystems in Southern Brazil Based on a Long-Term Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Guilherme Rosa da Silva

    (Department of Soil Science, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, 7712 Bento Gonçalves Ave., Porto Alegre 91540-000, RS, Brazil)

  • Adam J. Liska

    (Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA)

  • Cimelio Bayer

    (Department of Soil Science, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, 7712 Bento Gonçalves Ave., Porto Alegre 91540-000, RS, Brazil)

Abstract

Brazilian agriculture is constantly questioned concerning its environmental impacts, particularly greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This research study used data from a 34-year field experiment to estimate the life cycle GHG emissions intensity of maize production for grain in farming systems under no-tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT) combined with Gramineae (oat) and legume (vetch) cover crops in southern Brazil. We applied the Feedstock Carbon Intensity Calculator for modeling the “field-to-farm gate” emissions with measured annual soil N 2 O and CH 4 emissions data. For net CO 2 emissions, increases in soil organic C (SOC) were applied as a proxy, where the CT combined with oat was a reference. The life cycle GHG emissions intensity for maize was negative under NT farming systems with Gramineae and legume cover crops, −0.7 and −0.1 kg CO 2 e kg −1 of maize, respectively. CT with oats as a cover crop had a GHG intensity of 1.0 kg CO 2 e kg −1 of maize and 2.2 Mg CO 2 e ha −1 . NT with cover crops increased SOC (0.7 C Mg ha −1 yr −1 , 0–100 cm) and contributed to the mitigation of life cycle GHG emissions of maize production. This research shows that NT with cover crops is a sustainable solution for farming in southern Brazil.

Suggested Citation

  • Guilherme Rosa da Silva & Adam J. Liska & Cimelio Bayer, 2024. "Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Maize No-Till Agroecosystems in Southern Brazil Based on a Long-Term Experiment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-13, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:10:p:4012-:d:1392149
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/10/4012/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/10/4012/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Houshyar, Ehsan & Grundmann, Philipp, 2017. "Environmental impacts of energy use in wheat tillage systems: A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) study in Iran," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 11-24.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Nabavi-Pelesaraei, Ashkan & Azadi, Hossein & Van Passel, Steven & Saber, Zahra & Hosseini-Fashami, Fatemeh & Mostashari-Rad, Fatemeh & Ghasemi-Mobtaker, Hassan, 2021. "Prospects of solar systems in production chain of sunflower oil using cold press method with concentrating energy and life cycle assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    2. Naseri, Hakim & Parashkoohi, Mohammad Gholami & Ranjbar, Iraj & Zamani, Davood Mohammad, 2021. "Energy-economic and life cycle assessment of sugarcane production in different tillage systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    3. Sara Ilahi & Yongchang Wu & Muhammad Ahsan Ali Raza & Wenshan Wei & Muhammad Imran & Lyankhua Bayasgalankhuu, 2019. "Optimization Approach for Improving Energy Efficiency and Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas Emission of Wheat Crop using Data Envelopment Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-16, June.
    4. Li, Shuo & Wang, Shujuan & Shi, Jianglan & Tian, Xiaohong & Wu, Jiechen, 2022. "Economic, energy and environmental performance assessment on wheat production under water-saving cultivation strategies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    5. Anna Vatsanidou & Christos Kavalaris & Spyros Fountas & Nikolaos Katsoulas & Theofanis Gemtos, 2020. "A Life Cycle Assessment of Biomass Production from Energy Crops in Crop Rotation Using Different Tillage System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-24, August.
    6. Ghasemi-Mobtaker, Hassan & Kaab, Ali & Rafiee, Shahin, 2020. "Application of life cycle analysis to assess environmental sustainability of wheat cultivation in the west of Iran," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    7. Ali Mohammadi & G. Venkatesh & Samieh Eskandari & Shahin Rafiee, 2022. "Eco-Efficiency Analysis to Improve Environmental Performance of Wheat Production," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-16, July.
    8. Ghasemi-Mobtaker, Hassan & Mostashari-Rad, Fatemeh & Saber, Zahra & Chau, Kwok-wing & Nabavi-Pelesaraei, Ashkan, 2020. "Application of photovoltaic system to modify energy use, environmental damages and cumulative exergy demand of two irrigation systems-A case study: Barley production of Iran," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 1316-1334.
    9. Hamed Rafiee & Milad Aminizadeh & Elham Mehrparvar Hosseini & Hanane Aghasafari & Ali Mohammadi, 2022. "A Cluster Analysis on the Energy Use Indicators and Carbon Footprint of Irrigated Wheat Cropping Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-19, March.
    10. Bhunia, Snehasish & Karmakar, Subrata & Bhattacharjee, Suvendu & Roy, Kingshuk & Kanthal, Sahely & Pramanick, Mahadev & Baishya, Aniket & Mandal, Biswapati, 2021. "Optimization of energy consumption using data envelopment analysis (DEA) in rice-wheat-green gram cropping system under conservation tillage practices," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    11. Xiaoxi Yan & Dong Jiang & Jingying Fu & Mengmeng Hao, 2018. "Assessment of Sweet Sorghum-Based Ethanol Potential in China within the Water–Energy–Food Nexus Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    12. Morteza Zangeneh & Narges Banaeian & Sean Clark, 2021. "Meta-Analysis on Energy-Use Patterns of Cropping Systems in Iran," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-28, March.
    13. Zahra Payandeh & Ahmad Jahanbakhshi & Tarahom Mesri-Gundoshmian & Sean Clark, 2021. "Improving Energy Efficiency of Barley Production Using Joint Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Optimization Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, May.
    14. Vilma Naujokienė & Kristina Lekavičienė & Egidijus Šarauskis & Asta Bendoraitytė, 2022. "Using a Soil Bioregeneration Approach to Reduce Soil Compaction and Financial Costs of Planting Winter Wheat and Rapeseed," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-13, May.
    15. Singh, Pritpal & Singh, Gurdeep & Sodhi, G.P.S., 2020. "Energy and carbon footprints of wheat establishment following different rice residue management strategies vis-à-vis conventional tillage coupled with rice residue burning in north-western India," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(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:16:y:2024:i:10:p:4012-:d:1392149. 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.