Emergy evaluation of the contribution of irrigation water, and its utilization, in three agricultural systems in China

doi:10.1007/s11707-013-0394-7

Front. Earth Sci.

2014, Vol. 8

Issue (3) : 325-337 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-013-0394-7

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Emergy evaluation of the contribution of irrigation water, and its utilization, in three agricultural systems in China

Dan CHEN^1,²,Zhaohui LUO^3,^*(

),Michael WEBBER²,Jing CHEN¹,Weiguang WANG⁴

1. Key Laboratory of Efficient Irrigation-Drainage and Agricultural Soil-Water Environment in Southern China (Ministry of Education), College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
2. Department of Resource Management and Geography, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
3. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
4. College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China

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Abstract

Emergy theory and method are used to evaluate the contribution of irrigation water, and the process of its utilization, in three agricultural systems. The agricultural systems evaluated in this study were rice, wheat, and oilseed rape productions in an irrigation pumping district of China. A corresponding framework for emergy evaluation and sensitivity analysis methods was proposed. Two new indices, the fraction of irrigation water (FIW), and the irrigation intensity of agriculture (IIA), were developed to depict the contribution of irrigation water. The calculated FIW indicated that irrigation water used for the rice production system (34.7%) contributed more than irrigation water used for wheat (5.3%) and oilseed rape (11.2%) production systems in a typical dry year. The wheat production with an IIA of 19.0 had the highest net benefit from irrigation compared to the rice (2.9) and oilseed rape (8.9) productions. The transformities of the systems’ products represented different energy efficiencies for rice (2.50E+05 sej·J^-1), wheat (1.66E+05 sej·J^-1) and oilseed rape (2.14E+05 sej·J^-1) production systems. According to several emergy indices, of the three systems evaluated, the rice system had the greatest level of sustainability. However, all of them were less sustainable than the ecological agricultural systems. A sensitivity analysis showed that the emergy inputs of irrigation water and nitrogenous fertilizer were the highest sensitivity factors influencing the emergy ratios. Best Management Practices, and other agroecological strategies, could be implemented to make further improvements in the sustainability of the three systems.

Keywords emergy evaluation irrigation agriculture sustainability

Corresponding Author(s): Zhaohui LUO

Issue Date: 04 July 2014

Cite this article:

Dan CHEN,Zhaohui LUO,Michael WEBBER, et al. Emergy evaluation of the contribution of irrigation water, and its utilization, in three agricultural systems in China[J]. Front. Earth Sci., 2014, 8(3): 325-337.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-013-0394-7
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y2014/V8/I3/325

Tab.1 Main data for rice, wheat and oilseed rape production (1 Mu= 667 m²)

Fig.1 Energy systems diagram for an irrigated agricultural production system.

Tab.2 Emergy evaluation of the irrigated rice production system (1 Mu=667 m²)

Tab.3 Emergy evaluation of the irrigated wheat production system (1 Mu=667 m²)

Tab.4 Emergy evaluation of the irrigated oilseed rape production system (1 Mu=667 m²)

Fig.2 Structure of emergy inputs for the three irrigated agricultural systems.

Tab.5 Emergy indicators for the irrigated agricultural systems

Fig.3 Sensitivity analysis results for the three irrigated agricultural systems (unit: %; emergy inputs with less than 10% change across all the three emergy indices were not shown).

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