Energy Accounting of Irrigated Wheat Production to Post Production (Baking Bread) in Doroodzan, Fars Province, Iran

Abstract

the total energy input (tEI) of irrigated wheat in Fars province, Iran, was estimated at 901 liter diesel oil equivalent per hectare (LDOE ha-1) (423 LDOE or 4819 Mcal, (47%) and 478.14 LDOE or 5454 Mcal, (53%) for wheat production and post production, respectively. the tEI for 1 ton wheat was estimated at 200 LDOE and for 1 ton of bread at 181 LDOE (wheat bread at 28% moisture). the direct use of fossil fuel oil in land preparation, planting, harvesting and transportation was estimated at 106 LDOE ha-1. the applications of fertilizer and pesticide contributed about 40% of the total energy bill in production while it was larger in baking the bread at 72.3 LDOE ton-1 or 75% of the energy costs of post production. At 4515 kg ha-1 average yield of irrigated wheat in Fars province, Iran, the energy output was estimated at 15848 Mcal for raw wheat, 13409.55 Mcal for bread and 2895 Mcal for straw. the energy balance for raw wheat production (field level) was estimated at 3.3. Post- production (baking bread) consumed a lot of energy. the estimated energy balance was 1.3. Measures on how to reduce the energy bill for wheat production and for post-production (baking bread) are discussed.

Energy Inputs of Selected Agroforestry Systems in Zamboanga City, Philippines

“…Energy accounting procedures and various energy coefficients were based from the earlier work of Pimentel [5], Mohammadshirazi et al [19], Goe and MacDowell [20], Ozkan et al [16], Shresta [21], Esengan et al [22], Yaldiz et al [12], Singh et al [14], Yilmaz et al [23], Thu and Mendoza [2], Egle and Mendoza [4], Mendoza [10], Taghavi and Mendoza [3], Mendoza and Samson [15], Karimi et al [24], Gliessman [25], Savuth [26], and from other relevant information as cited by Wells [27] and Bockhari-Gevao et al [28]. All energy units in Mcal were converted into Liter Diesel Oil Equivalent (LDOE), where 1.0 LDOE = 11.414…”

“…Energy inputs on logistics would also increase the price of food delivered in the local markets of Zamboanga City, more so if they are transported far [26]. In the Philippines, the sugar production is an intensive energy-requiring process [29], including inorganic rice production [2,18,26], wheat production [3] and high valued crops [5]. These observations are also true with the nine ( 9) identified dominant AFSs in the uplands of Zamboanga City, where major agricultural crops such as coconut, rubber, banana, upland rice, lanzones and marang (seasonal crops) grown in combination and/or as an inter-crop were becoming energy intensive systems.…”

“…Prior to the industrial revolution, solar power was the primary energy input for agriculture [1]. However, owing to the impact of rapid mechanization, food production has become increasingly dependent on energy derived from fossil fuels [2][3][4] making the system to require large amount of energy inputs such as the direct use of energy to run farm machineries, water management, irrigation, cultivation and harvesting, food processing, storage and transportation [5,6]. Huge quantities of synthetic fertilizers require high energy inputs to produce and depend largely on machinery that runs on gasoline and diesel fuel.…”

“…The science of energy accounting in food agriculture has been used as early as 1973 [5] and it has continue to evolved [7,[12][13][14][15][16][17]. In recent years, energy accounting has been used for sugarcane production [2,4,18], rice and cotton [2], wheat [3] and lowland rice [19]. Food sources derived from agroforestry systems (AFSs) such as fruits and annuals as intercrops are sources of caloric energy but to produce such energy also requires enormous energy in the form of machineries, farm implements, equipment, farm tools, various inputs like seeds, fertilizers and chemical pesticides, trucks and other form of logistics used for hauling and transport including labor that are derived from human and draft animal.…”