Hotspot detection in the cultivation of organic winter wheat variety mixtures

The organic farming sector is growing, and environmental aspects are a matter of discussion next to the quantity and quality of organic products. The life cycle assessment (LCA) method is an efficient solution to fill these gaps.

A three-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the response of winter wheat varieties and their mixtures in grain yield and quality. Four single cropping of winter wheat cultivars and eight mixed cropping systems sown with mixed or alternate rows of two cultivars were compared. The LCA method via to cradle-to-farm gate approach was employed. The SimaPro 9.6.0.1 Analyst software, and integrated method of the software ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint and Endpoint, Hierarchical (H) V1.1 / World (2010) H and primarily the Cut-off System Model approach was applied, considering one kg of grain protein yield in dry matter as the functional unit.

The results were expressed in impact categories of global warming, GW (kg CO₂ eq); terrestrial acidification, TA (kg SO₂ eq); freshwater eutrophication, FE (kg P eq); marine eutrophication, ME (kg N eq); terrestrial ecotoxicity, TE (kg 1,4-DCB); freshwater ecotoxicity, FET (kg 1,4-DCB); human non-carcinogenic toxicity, HNCT (kg 1,4-DCB); land use, LU (m²a crop eq), and water consumption, WC (m³). The variants with the lowest environmental impact levels tend to be those where Vanessa was implemented. The hotspots were detected on the level of direct field emissions for the impact category of GW, FE, or ME, then on the level of manure management for the impact category of TA, or on the level of agrotechnology in the impact category of TE and FET.

The results of this research may be used as an example of an environmental design application based on hotspot detection in organic agriculture from the LCA perspective. The study results can also be implemented into the cropping system related to organic farming on arable land.