Evaluation of Environmental, Energy, and Economic Indices in Irrigated and Dryland Coriander Production Systems Using a Life Cycle Assessment
نویسندگان
1 Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystem, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
2 Department of Plant Production and Genetics, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
3 Department of Plant Production and Genetics, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
doi
10.22126/atic.2025.11645.1187چکیده
The development of medicinal plant cultivation is of particular importance. However, this development has been accompanied by an increase in the consumption of chemical and energy inputs, a trend that is also observed in coriander cultivation. Therefore, this study was conducted from 2021 to 2023 to compare irrigated and dryland coriander production systems in terms of environmental, economic, and energy indices across Kermanshah Province. The study employed a life cycle assessment approach and utilized the ReCiPe 2016 methodology. The results indicated that the irrigated coriander production system has significantly higher input and output energy than dryland production system. For irrigated production system, the input energy was 20999 Mj ha-1 and the output energy was 44400 Mj ha-1, which were 166% and 328% higher than those for dryland production system, respectively. Additionally, energy indices showed that irrigated production system outperformed dryland production system by 61% in energy ratio, 55% in energy efficiency, 56% in energy intensity, and 843% in net energy gain. However, irrigated production system produces 65% of the environmental pollutants due to higher consumption of diesel fuel and chemical fertilizers (8446 and 4129 Mj ha-1, respectively). Moreover, irrigated coriander production system is more profitable than dryland production system, with a net income of $841.88 ha-1. Optimizing the use of chemical inputs and increasing energy efficiency can improve production sustainability and environmental protection.
