Does growing grain legumes or applying lime cost effectively lower greenhouse gas emissions from wheat production in a semi-arid climate?

Agriculture production contributes to global warming directly via the release of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide emissions, and indirectly through the consumption of inputs such as fertilizer, fuel and herbicides. We investigated if including a grain legume (Lupinus angustifolius) in...

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Main Authors: Barton, L., Thamo, T., Engelbrecht, D., Biswas, Wahidul
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15291
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author Barton, L.
Thamo, T.
Engelbrecht, D.
Biswas, Wahidul
author_facet Barton, L.
Thamo, T.
Engelbrecht, D.
Biswas, Wahidul
author_sort Barton, L.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Agriculture production contributes to global warming directly via the release of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide emissions, and indirectly through the consumption of inputs such as fertilizer, fuel and herbicides. We investigated if including a grain legume (Lupinus angustifolius) in a cropping rotation, and/or applying agricultural lime to increase the pH of an acidic soil, decreased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from wheat production in a semi-arid environment by conducting a streamlined life cycle assessment analysis that utilized in situ GHG emission measurements, rather than international default values. We also assessed the economic viability of each GHG mitigation strategy. Incorporating a grain legume in a two year cropping rotation decreased GHG emissions from wheat production by 56% on a per hectare basis, and 35% on a per tonne of wheat basis, primarily by lowering nitrogen fertilizer inputs. However, a large incentive ($93 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalents reduced) was required for the inclusion of grain legumes to be financially attractive. Applying lime was profitable but increased GHG emissions by varying amounts depending upon whether the lime was assumed to dissolve over one, five or 10 years. We recommend further investigating the impact of liming on both CO2 and non-CO2 emissions to accurately account for its effect on GHG emissions from agricultural production.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-152912019-02-19T04:25:52Z Does growing grain legumes or applying lime cost effectively lower greenhouse gas emissions from wheat production in a semi-arid climate? Barton, L. Thamo, T. Engelbrecht, D. Biswas, Wahidul grain production streamline life cycle assessment greenhouse gas emissions nitrous oxide agriculture economic analysis Agriculture production contributes to global warming directly via the release of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide emissions, and indirectly through the consumption of inputs such as fertilizer, fuel and herbicides. We investigated if including a grain legume (Lupinus angustifolius) in a cropping rotation, and/or applying agricultural lime to increase the pH of an acidic soil, decreased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from wheat production in a semi-arid environment by conducting a streamlined life cycle assessment analysis that utilized in situ GHG emission measurements, rather than international default values. We also assessed the economic viability of each GHG mitigation strategy. Incorporating a grain legume in a two year cropping rotation decreased GHG emissions from wheat production by 56% on a per hectare basis, and 35% on a per tonne of wheat basis, primarily by lowering nitrogen fertilizer inputs. However, a large incentive ($93 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalents reduced) was required for the inclusion of grain legumes to be financially attractive. Applying lime was profitable but increased GHG emissions by varying amounts depending upon whether the lime was assumed to dissolve over one, five or 10 years. We recommend further investigating the impact of liming on both CO2 and non-CO2 emissions to accurately account for its effect on GHG emissions from agricultural production. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15291 10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.07.020 Elsevier fulltext
spellingShingle grain production
streamline life cycle assessment
greenhouse gas emissions
nitrous oxide
agriculture
economic analysis
Barton, L.
Thamo, T.
Engelbrecht, D.
Biswas, Wahidul
Does growing grain legumes or applying lime cost effectively lower greenhouse gas emissions from wheat production in a semi-arid climate?
title Does growing grain legumes or applying lime cost effectively lower greenhouse gas emissions from wheat production in a semi-arid climate?
title_full Does growing grain legumes or applying lime cost effectively lower greenhouse gas emissions from wheat production in a semi-arid climate?
title_fullStr Does growing grain legumes or applying lime cost effectively lower greenhouse gas emissions from wheat production in a semi-arid climate?
title_full_unstemmed Does growing grain legumes or applying lime cost effectively lower greenhouse gas emissions from wheat production in a semi-arid climate?
title_short Does growing grain legumes or applying lime cost effectively lower greenhouse gas emissions from wheat production in a semi-arid climate?
title_sort does growing grain legumes or applying lime cost effectively lower greenhouse gas emissions from wheat production in a semi-arid climate?
topic grain production
streamline life cycle assessment
greenhouse gas emissions
nitrous oxide
agriculture
economic analysis
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15291