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

Romano, Elio; Palo, Pasquale De; Tidona, Flavio; Maggiolino, Aristide; Bragaglio, Andrea

doi:10.3390/su131911108

Cited by 5 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This strategy allowed the comparison between with and without wheat farms in the buffalo rearing scenario. In agreement with several authors, allocation involved culled cows in cattle [18][19][20] and in buffaloes [6,8] but, as suggested by Romano et al [9], at a second step, we used the principle to identify the amounts of undesirable products, highlighted by environmental mitigation.…”

Section: System Boundary Definitionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Allocation of cereals (Triticum durum Desf.) byproducts [7,8,17] involved two farms in NCS and CS system respectively. This strategy allowed the comparison between with and without wheat farms in the buffalo rearing scenario.…”

Section: System Boundary Definitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These data have been recorded in the year 2021, referred to January-December 2020. As indicated by several authors [7][8][9]17], dairy systems often produce crop commodities (cereals), thus both groups (NCS, CS) were balanced with a 3:2 ratio = no:yes wheat crop production. In farms producing wheat, the inputs useful to wheat production, such as synthetic fertilizers and fuels were considered.…”

Section: Inventory Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only the farms of the Foggia Province (Puglia region) are located in the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) area. According to current knowledge, Mediterranean Italian Buffalo breed animals show a noticeable heterogeneity in size, and this characteristic would affect management, feeding, and productions, also conditioning dry matter intake of feed and milk yields [8].…”

Section: Inventory Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The consumption and emission factor of natural gases adopted in the farms (water heating) were excluded due to the low impact and because it was not possible to have suitable information on it. Feed consumption, as well as water use and origin, was retrieved by interviews with the farmers, on the contrary water consumption was estimated [5,8,9]. Water consumption was distinguished in specific categories, provided by the software Simapro 8.03: the water needed for extra European crops, the Italian well water mainly adopted for maize, the water As recorded in the interviews, sexed semen (aimed to increase genetic selective pressure), was adopted mainly for the heifers.…”

Section: Inventory Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Role of Corn Silage in the Sustainability of Dairy Buffalo Systems and New Perspective of Allocation Criterion

et al. 2022

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This paper aims to compare the cradle-to-farm gate sustainability of two dairy buffalo systems, according to life cycle assessment guidelines (LCA). Primary data were obtained by five intensive farms with feeding plans based on non-corn silage (NCS) and five with corn silage (CS) based rations. Both systems were characterized by the presence of two farms with wheat grain yields, sold for human consumption. All the farms were in Southern Italy and seven were included in the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) area of “Mozzarella di bufala campana”. The functional unit (FU) adopted was 1 kg of normalized buffalo milk (NBM); impact categories investigated were: global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), agricultural land occupation (ALO), water depletion (WD). Two different economic allocation procedures were tested: a first step aimed to mitigate the environmental impacts sharing among wheat grain, where present, and milk. The second stage involved culled buffalo cows. Neither the allocation nor the combination of allocation and feeding system showed significant effects (p > 0.05). Corn silage-based system (CS) showed lower impacts than non-corn silage (NCS) one for AP and EP (p = 0.002 and p = 0.051 respectively). High average dry matter yield per hectare of corn silage probably had a positive effect on SO2 and PO43− equivalents.

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Section: System Boundary Definitionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: System Boundary Definitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inventory Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inventory Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inventory Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Role of Corn Silage in the Sustainability of Dairy Buffalo Systems and New Perspective of Allocation Criterion

et al. 2022

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Precision nitrogen management in rainfed durum wheat cultivation: exploring synergies and trade-offs via energy analysis, life cycle assessment, and monetization

et al. 2023

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Fertilization with variable rate technology (VRT) is a pivotal technique of precision agriculture proposed for eco-friendly farming practices. Yet the magnitude of environmental benefits is often not well known or is highly variable. This study used a multi-indicator model and life cycle-based indicators to compare the performance of rain-fed durum wheat production using uniform (UA) and variable N fertilization (VRT). Two functional units were used: 1 ha of cultivated wheat and 1 ton of wheat produced. The energy analysis indicated that VRT increases energy use efficiency and productivity by 13.3%, reduces specific energy and total energy input by 11.7%, and increases net energy gain by 15.3%. The life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis indicated that for some environmental impacts, VRT had minor negative effects due to the comparable yield performance with UA. Yet, the VRT had a noteworthy positive impact on global warming, fine particulate matter formation, stratospheric ozone depletion, terrestrial acidification, and marine eutrophication, generating a final environmental benefit of 12.2% for 1 ton of product and 13.3% for 1 ha of land. Economic valuation or monetization of LCA results using monetization weighting factors indicated indirect economic benefits of VRT can be up to 6.6% for 1 ton of product and 7.7% for 1 ha of land. Our findings support the use of nitrogen fertilization with VRT for sustainable extensification and improved eco-efficiency of wheat production in a Mediterranean context. As a result of our research, we conclude that future case studies on annual crops with moderate land requirements should employ multiple metrics and functional units, as well as the concepts of monetization and life cycle assessment, to investigate trade-offs between yield, economic, and environmental benefits and to aid decision-making about the true sustainability of proposed farming technologies. Graphical abstract

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Study on the suitability of life cycle assessment for the estimation of donkey milk environmental impact

Bragaglio,

Romano,

Cutini

et al. 2024

animal

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

Cited by 5 publications

References 34 publications

Role of Corn Silage in the Sustainability of Dairy Buffalo Systems and New Perspective of Allocation Criterion

Role of Corn Silage in the Sustainability of Dairy Buffalo Systems and New Perspective of Allocation Criterion

Precision nitrogen management in rainfed durum wheat cultivation: exploring synergies and trade-offs via energy analysis, life cycle assessment, and monetization

Study on the suitability of life cycle assessment for the estimation of donkey milk environmental impact

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