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Emergy Assessment of a Wheat-Maize Rotation System with Different Water Assignments in the North China Plain

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Abstract

Sustainable water use is seriously compromised in the North China Plain (NCP) due to the huge water requirements of agriculture, the largest use of water resources. An integrated approach which combines the ecosystem model with emergy analysis is presented to determine the optimum quantity of irrigation for sustainable development in irrigated cropping systems. Since the traditional emergy method pays little attention to the dynamic interaction among components of the ecological system and dynamic emergy accounting is in its infancy, it is hard to evaluate the cropping system in hypothetical situations or in response to specific changes. In order to solve this problem, an ecosystem model (Vegetation Interface Processes (VIP) model) is introduced for emergy analysis to describe the production processes. Some raw data, collected by investigating or observing in conventional emergy analysis, may be calculated by the VIP model in the new approach. To demonstrate the advantage of this new approach, we use it to assess the wheat-maize rotation cropping system at different irrigation levels and derive the optimum quantity of irrigation according to the index of ecosystem sustainable development in NCP. The results show, the optimum quantity of irrigation in this region should be 240–330 mm per year in the wheat system and no irrigation in the maize system, because with this quantity of irrigation the rotation crop system reveals: best efficiency in energy transformation (transformity = 6.05E + 4 sej/J); highest sustainability (renewability = 25%); lowest environmental impact (environmental loading ratio = 3.5) and the greatest sustainability index (Emergy Sustainability Index = 0.47) compared with the system in other irrigation amounts. This study demonstrates that application of the new approach is broader than the conventional emergy analysis and the new approach is helpful in optimizing resources allocation, resource-savings and maintaining agricultural sustainability.

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Acknowledgments

This research was jointly supported by the Chinese National Nature Science Foundation (Project No.40671033), Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology 863 Agriculture High Technology Project (2006AA10Z228) and State Key Lab of Resources and Environmental Information System (Project No. A0619). Many thanks to the four anonymous reviews and the Editor whose pertinent comments have greatly improved the quality of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, Peoples’ Republic of China

    Shi Hu, Xingguo Mo, Zhonghui Lin & Jianxiu Qiu

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  1. Shi Hu
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  2. Xingguo Mo
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  3. Zhonghui Lin
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  4. Jianxiu Qiu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xingguo Mo.

Additional information

This is a contribution to the special issue of Environmental Impacts of Bioenergy (in China), Guest Editor Jie (Joe) Zhuang.

Appendix

Appendix

Calculations and References to Table 4

1 Sun: Mean annual global radiation of 5240 MJ/m2. Albedo = 20%. Energy received over land = 10000 m2 × 5.24 × 109 J/m2 × (1–20%) = 4.19 × 1013 J/ha year. Transformity = 1 (Odum 1996a, b).

2 Rain, chemical energy: Precipitation = 349.8 mm, evapotransipiration of crop = 430~800 mm (calculate by VIP model). Chemical energy of rain over land = 10000 m2 × 0.43~0.8 m (evapotransipiration) × 1000 kg/m3 (density of rain) × 4940 J/kg (Gibbs free energy of rainwater) = 2.12E + 10~3.95E + 10 J. Transformity from Odum (1996a, b).

3, 5 Groundwater: Annual groundwater consumption = 60~540 mm. Renewable part is 60~240 mm, nonrenewable part is 0~300 mm. Chemical energy of groundwater over land = 10000 m2 × 0.06~0.54 m (evapotransipiration) × 1000 kg/m3 (density of rain) × 4940 J/kg (Gibbs free energy of rainwater) = 0.30E + 10~2.67E + 10 J. Renewable part is 0.3E + 10~1.19E + 10 J, nonrenewable part is 0~1.48E + 10 J. Transformity from Buenfil (2001).

4 Soil loss: Average soil loss = 8.45t/ha (Feng and others 2008), organic matter = 0.01972 kg/kg soil (Wu and Cai 2006). Energy of soil loss = 8.45 × 103kg/ha × 0.01972 kg/kg × 5400 kcal/kg (organic matter energy) × 4186 J/kcal = 3.77E + 09 J. Transformity from Brown and Arding (1991).

6 Seed: Annual consumption is 1.40E + 05 g/ha, where 1.20E + 05 g/ha is used in the wheat growing stage and 0.2E + 05 g/ha is used in the maize growing stage (Heibei statistical yearbook, 2007). Energy of seed = 1.20E + 05 g/ha × 1.57E + 04 J/g + 0.2E + 05 g/ha × 1.65 E + 04 J/g = 2.22E + 09 J. Transformity from Cohen and others (2006).

7 Nitrogen: Annual consumption is 3.30E + 05 g/ha, where 1.84E + 05 g/ha is used in the wheat growing stage and 1.46E + 05 g/ha is used in the maize growing stage (Heibei statistical yearbook, 2007). Transformity from Odum (1996a, b).

8 Phosphate: Annual consumption is 1.02E + 05 g/ha, where 0.86E + 05 g/ha is used in the wheat growing stage and 0.16E + 05 g/ha is used in the maize growing stage (Heibei statistical yearbook, 2007). Transformity from Odum (1996a, b).

9 Potash: Annual consumption is 5.60E + 03 g/ha, where 4.88E + 03 g/ha is used in the wheat growing stage and 0.72E + 03 g/ha is used in the maize growing stage (Heibei statistical yearbook, 2007). Transformity from Odum (1996a, b).

10 Compound fertilizer: Annual consumption is 2.60E + 05 g/ha, where 1.68E + 05 g/ha used is in the wheat growing stage and 0.92E + 05 g/ha is used in the maize growing stage (Heibei statistical yearbook, 2007). Transformity from Lan and others (2002).

11 Fuel for machinery: Fuel for machinery = 144 kg/ha (Accessed online November 5, 2009 http://www.hebwj.gov.cn/upfiles/xy_col28super_20061107144551626762.htm). Higher heating value of diesel = 4.45 + E07 J/kg (Boustead and Hancock, 1981). Total energy of diesel fuel = 144 kg/ha × 4.45E + 07 J/kg = 6.41E + 09 J. Transformity from Odum (1996a, b).

12 Pesticide: Annual pesticide is 4.5E + 03 g, where 1.5E + 03 g/ha is used in the wheat growing stage and 3.0E + 03 g/ha is used in the maize growing stage (personal on-field investigation of the authors). Transformity from Brown and Arding (1991).

13 Steel for agriculture: Steel for agriculture is 247.58$, where 166.23$ is used in the wheat growing stage and 81.35$ is used in the maize growing stage. Transformity from Jiang and Chen (2006).

14 Electricity: Amount pumped groundwater (Q) = (0.06~0.54) m × 10000 m2 × 1t/m3 = 600~5400 t, power consumption rate (e) = 2.72/η (engine efficiency, usually 0.85 for electricity machine) = 3.2, electricity consumption = 3.2 (e) × 0.6~5.4 kt (Q) × 30 m (groundwater table) × 3.6E + 06 J/kw h = 2.07E + 08~1.87E + 09 J. Transformity from Brown and Ulgiatil (2004).

15 Management and labor: Annual number of persons for planting, harvesting, driving machines is 13.6, with 6.5 in wheat system and 7.1 in maize system. Daily working time is 8 h and energy consumption is 2.12E + 09 J/h for each person. Total energy = 13.6 × 2.12E + 06 J/h × 8 = 2.31E + 08 J. Transformity from Lan and others (2002).

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Hu, S., Mo, X., Lin, Z. et al. Emergy Assessment of a Wheat-Maize Rotation System with Different Water Assignments in the North China Plain. Environmental Management 46, 643–657 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-010-9543-x

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