Life cycle assessment of a highly diverse vegetable multi-cropping system in Fengqiu County, China
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Published Version
Date
2018
Authors
Li, Li
Wu, Wenliang
Giller, Paul
O'Halloran, John
Liang, Long
Peng, Peng
Zhao, Guishen
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published Version
Abstract
Agricultural biodiversity usually leads to greater sustainability in production practices. To understand the environmental implications of the development of village-level multi-cropping in rural China, we compared the environmental impact of a highly diverse vegetable multi-cropping system to a conventional wheat/maize rotation system based on the method of life cycle assessment (LCA). Using household level cultivation data, this study examined the gate-to-gate environmental impacts of on-site cultivation practices relating to the production of 10,000 nutrient equivalent units. Results show that vegetable multi-cropping resulted in decreased average land requirement, and diesel, water and electricity usage by 69.8%, 62.2%, 71.7%, and 63.4%, respectively, while average nitrogen (Total N), phosphorus (P2O5), and potassium (K2O) usage in vegetable multi-cropping systems decreased by 16.3%, 42.1%, and 75.8%, respectively. Additional corresponding effects led to a decrease in the total global warming, eutrophication, and acidification potentials from external inputs by 21.6%, 16.7%, and 16.2% of the entire system, respectively. Moreover, the midpoint human toxicity potential from pesticide usage of the vegetable multi-cropping system was lower than that of the conventional system. However, the midpoint eco-toxicity potential from pesticide usage was higher due to certain highly toxic substances, and both human and eco-toxicity potentials from heavy metals were all higher by a few orders of magnitudes. Thus, to mitigate these detrimental consequences, some related measures are proposed for sustainable practices in the future implementation of multi-cropping systems.
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Keywords
Life cycle assessment , Multi-cropping , Nutrient equivalent , Biodiversity , Sustainable development
Citation
Li, L., Wu, W., Giller, P., O’Halloran, J., Liang, L., Peng, P. and Zhao, G. (2018) 'Life cycle assessment of a highly diverse vegetable multi-cropping system in Fengqiu County, China', Sustainability, 10(4), 983 (17pp). doi: 10.3390/su10040983