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Environmental impacts, human health, and energy consumption of nitrogen management for maize production in subtropical region

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Abstract

Over-application of fertilizers could not improve crop yield and agronomic efficiency, but result in increasing nitrogen (N) surplus and adverse effects on the ecosystem sustainability. Although some previous studies have addressed one or a few environmental aspects in crop production, an integrated assessment for the effects of N fertilizer on multiple environmental impacts, and the optional steps of normalization and weighting is required. A consecutive 2-year plot-based field experiment was conducted with five N fertilizer levels (0, 90, 180, 270, and 360 kg N ha−1) in maize production at three sites in Southwest China, to evaluate the environmental performance and sustainability through joint use of life cycle assessment (LCA) and energy consumption analysis. Results demonstrated that the optimal N rate (180 kg N ha−1) showed greater potential for maintaining high yield (achieved 86% of the yield potential) and reducing the global warming (− 31%), acidification (− 47%), eutrophication (− 44%) compared to farmers’ practice, and energy depletion potentials, by reducing pollutants emission during the production and transportation of N fertilizer and Nr losses at farm stage. Optimal N treatment indirectly reduced the land use, life-cycle human toxicity, aquatic eco-toxicity, and terrestrial eco-toxicity potentials by improving grain yield and agronomic efficiency. In addition, the optimal N treatment reduced the energy consumption by enhancing the energy use efficiency (EUE) (+ 74%) and reducing non-renewable energy form (− 45%) than the farmer’s practice. This study will provide comprehensive information for both scientists and farmers involved in maize production and N management in subtropical region.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

Abbreviations

AE:

Agronomic efficiency

LCI:

Life cycle inventory

AEP:

Aquatic ecotoxicity potential

LU:

Land resource use

AP:

Acidification potential

MS:

Materials system

ED:

Depletion potential

N:

Nitrogen

EI:

Environmental indicator

NE:

Net energy

EP:

Eutrophication potential

NH3 :

Ammonia

EUE:

Energy use efficiency

N2O:

Nitrous oxide

FS:

Farming system

Nr:

Reactive nitrogen

GWP:

Global warming potential

NUE:

N use efficiency

HTP:

Human toxicity potential

TEP:

Terrestrial ecotoxicity potential

LCA:

Life cycle assessment

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (NO. 2018YFD0200700) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (XDJK2020C069), Ministry of Education, China. This work also was gratefully supported by China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA and State Cultivation Base of Eco-agriculture for Southwest Mountainous Land (Southwest University).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resources and Environment, Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Zhi Yao, Wushuai Zhang, Ming Lu, Wei Zhang & Xinping Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Soil and Fertilizer Resources, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Zhi Yao, Ming Lu, Wei Zhang, Dunyi Liu & Xinping Chen

  3. Interdisciplinary Research Center for Agriculture Green Development in Yangtze River Basin, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Wushuai Zhang, Dunyi Liu & Xinping Chen

  4. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Xingbang Wang

  5. Department of Soil Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada

    Xiaopeng Gao

  6. College of Resources, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611830, China

    Yuanxue Chen

Authors
  1. Zhi Yao
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  2. Wushuai Zhang
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  3. Xingbang Wang
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  4. Ming Lu
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  5. Wei Zhang
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  6. Dunyi Liu
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  7. Xiaopeng Gao
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  8. Yuanxue Chen
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  9. Xinping Chen
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Contributions

Zhi Yao: investigation, methodology, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. Wushuai Zhang and Xingbang Wang: investigation, methodology, data curation, writing—review and editing. Ming Lu, Wei Zhang, and Dunyi Liu: methodology, writing—review and editing. Xiaopeng Gao and Yuanxue Chen: writing—review and editing, supervision. Xinping Chen: writing—review and editing, conceptualization, supervision, funding acquisition. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xinping Chen.

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Highlights

1. Maize production system has low yield and high environmental impacts in subtropical region.

2. The optimal nitrogen application rates were determined in this region.

3. Optimal N rate maintained high yield and reduced the negative environmental impacts.

4. Environmental factors are important in driving agronomic efficiency and environmental impacts in subtropical region.

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Yao, Z., Zhang, W., Wang, X. et al. Environmental impacts, human health, and energy consumption of nitrogen management for maize production in subtropical region. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 75636–75650 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20898-4

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