Energy efficiency in pea organic production
Natalia Georgieva, Ivelina Nikolova, Dimitar Pavlov and Tsenka Zhelyazkova
Abstract: Efficient use of energy in agriculture will minimize environmental problems, prevent the degradation of natural resources and improve sustainability. The purpose of this study was to determine the energy use in pea organic production and to compare it with conditions of conventional production through the following parameters: energy value of forage, energy input/output, energy efficiency. The organic system included eight variants with alone and combined application of organic nanoferilizers Lithovit (2000 g ha-1) and Nagro (500 ml ha-1), and bioinsecticides Madex (600 ml ha-1) and Agricolle (1000 ml ha-1).
They are compared with a conventional system (three variants with alone and combined application of synthetic fertilizer Kristalon (5000 g ha-1) and insecticide Proteus (600 ml ha-1) as well as with a control variant. The results showed that pea growing in organic production conditions required energy inputs of 8580.65 MJ ha-1. The obtained energy had increased values (96582.87 MJ ha-1 for GE, 55916.47 MJ ha-1 for ME and 32972.42 MJ ha-1 for NE) and differences from 10.3 to 38.1% compared to the control. In conventional growing, energy consumption and energy outputs were similar to those in organic growing, especially regarding ME and NE. The close values of energy input and output in the organic and conventional production determined and close coefficients of energy efficiency for both productions (11.08 and 11.06). As the most energy efficient variant can be determined the combined application of Lithovit and Madex which increased the energy efficiency by 26.7% (for GE) compared to the control. With high efficiency was distinguished also the alone treatment with organic fertilizer Lithovit (20.8%) and the organic combination of Nagro with Madex (19.7%). Under conventional production, maximum energy efficiency was found in the synthetic combination of Kristalon with Proteus, whose effect was equivalent to that of the organic fertilizer Lithovit.
They are compared with a conventional system (three variants with alone and combined application of synthetic fertilizer Kristalon (5000 g ha-1) and insecticide Proteus (600 ml ha-1) as well as with a control variant. The results showed that pea growing in organic production conditions required energy inputs of 8580.65 MJ ha-1. The obtained energy had increased values (96582.87 MJ ha-1 for GE, 55916.47 MJ ha-1 for ME and 32972.42 MJ ha-1 for NE) and differences from 10.3 to 38.1% compared to the control. In conventional growing, energy consumption and energy outputs were similar to those in organic growing, especially regarding ME and NE. The close values of energy input and output in the organic and conventional production determined and close coefficients of energy efficiency for both productions (11.08 and 11.06). As the most energy efficient variant can be determined the combined application of Lithovit and Madex which increased the energy efficiency by 26.7% (for GE) compared to the control. With high efficiency was distinguished also the alone treatment with organic fertilizer Lithovit (20.8%) and the organic combination of Nagro with Madex (19.7%). Under conventional production, maximum energy efficiency was found in the synthetic combination of Kristalon with Proteus, whose effect was equivalent to that of the organic fertilizer Lithovit.
Keywords: efficiency; energy; organic production; pea
Date published: 2022-02-16
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