Eco-energy and environmental evaluation of cantaloupe production by life cycle assessment method

Abstract Environmental crises and resource depletion have adversely affected the food security around the world. Food security in the future can be guaranteed by sustainable agriculture that respect the environment. So, it is necessary to decrease the energy consumption of resources for agricultural productions to achieve the maximum sustainability. For agricultural productions, environmental and energy issues are completely interrelated and a comprehensive evaluation is necessary to manage them in all productions. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the energy pattern, environmental and economic indicators for cantaloupe production by using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method in Darrehshahr city, Iran. Required data were collected by a questionnaire from 40 cantaloupe farmers. The results showed that, nitrogen fertilizer (32.28%) and diesel fuel (30.52%) had the highest and cantaloupe seeds (0.39%) and oil consumption in tractor engines (0.43%) had the lowest share of energy consumption, respectively. Energy efficiency, energy productivity, energy intensity and net energy gain were estimated 0.56, 0.70 kgMJ-1, 1.41 MJkg-1 and − 11775.86 MJha-1, respectively. The results of the present status of environmental impacts showed that the most effective factor in climate change is direct emissions from the diesel fuel. Various machine operations such as primary and secondary plowing, spraying and transportation were the main causes of high diesel fuel consumption. Reducing the diesel fuel consumption by using appropriate farm management methods such as reduce tillage, can play an effective role in decreasing the fuel consumption. Indirect emissions from phosphorus and urea fertilizers had the highest effect on ecosystem quality. Economic analysis showed that production cost and benefit to cost ratio for cantaloupe are $ 2641.5 per hectare and 1.6, respectively.