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A three-year experiment was carried out in Central Greece to assess the use of different tillage practices (Conventional, Reduced, and No tillage) for seedbed preparation, in a double cropping per year rotation of irrigated and rainfed energy crops for biomass production for first- and second-generation biofuel production. A life cycle assessment (LCA) study was performed for the first year of crop rotation to evaluate the environmental impact of using different tillage practices, identifying the processes with greater influence on the overall environmental burden (hotspots) and demonstrating the potential environmental benefits from the land management change. LCA results revealed that fertilizer application and diesel fuel consumption, as well as their production stages, were the hot-spot processes for each treatment. In the present study, different tillage treatments compared using mass- and area-based functional unit (FU), revealing that reduced tillage, using strip tillage for spring crop and disc harrow for winter crops, and no tillage treatment had the best environmental performance, respectively. Comparison between the prevailing in the area monoculture cotton crop with the proposed double energy crop rotation adopting conservation tillage practices, using mass and energy value FU, showed that cotton crop had higher environmental impact.
Anna Vatsanidou; Christos Kavalaris; Spyros Fountas; Nikolaos Katsoulas; Theofanis Gemtos. A Life Cycle Assessment of Biomass Production from Energy Crops in Crop Rotation Using Different Tillage System. Sustainability 2020, 12, 6978 .
AMA StyleAnna Vatsanidou, Christos Kavalaris, Spyros Fountas, Nikolaos Katsoulas, Theofanis Gemtos. A Life Cycle Assessment of Biomass Production from Energy Crops in Crop Rotation Using Different Tillage System. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (17):6978.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnna Vatsanidou; Christos Kavalaris; Spyros Fountas; Nikolaos Katsoulas; Theofanis Gemtos. 2020. "A Life Cycle Assessment of Biomass Production from Energy Crops in Crop Rotation Using Different Tillage System." Sustainability 12, no. 17: 6978.
Precision Agriculture (PA) is a crop site-specific management system that aims for sustainability, adopting agricultural practices more friendly to the environment, like the variable rate application (VRA) technique. Many studies have dealt with the effectiveness of VRA to reduce nitrogen (N) fertilizer, while achieving increased profit and productivity. However, only limited attention was given to VRA’s environmental impact. In this study an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) based Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) performed to identify the environmental effects of N VRA on a small pear orchard, compared to the conventional uniform application. A Cradle to Gate system with a functional unit (FU) of 1 kg of pears was analyzed including high quality primary data of two productive years, including also the non-productive years, as well as all the emissions during pear growing and the supply chains of all inputs, projecting them to the lifespan of the orchard. A methodology was adopted, modelling individual years and averaging over the orchard’s lifetime. Results showed that Climate change, Water scarcity, Fossil fuels and Particulate formation were the most contributing impact categories to the overall environmental impact of the pear orchard lifespan, where climate change and particulates were largely determined by CO2, N2O, and NH3 emissions to the air from fertilizer production and application, and as CO2 from tractor use. Concerning fertilization practice, when VRA was combined with a high yield year, this resulted in significantly reduced environmental impact. LCA evaluating an alternative fertilizer management system in a Greek pear orchard revealed the environmental impact reduction potential of that system.
Anna Vatsanidou; Spyros Fountas; Vasileios Liakos; George Nanos; Nikolaos Katsoulas; Theofanis Gemtos. Life Cycle Assessment of Variable Rate Fertilizer Application in a Pear Orchard. Sustainability 2020, 12, 6893 .
AMA StyleAnna Vatsanidou, Spyros Fountas, Vasileios Liakos, George Nanos, Nikolaos Katsoulas, Theofanis Gemtos. Life Cycle Assessment of Variable Rate Fertilizer Application in a Pear Orchard. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (17):6893.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnna Vatsanidou; Spyros Fountas; Vasileios Liakos; George Nanos; Nikolaos Katsoulas; Theofanis Gemtos. 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Variable Rate Fertilizer Application in a Pear Orchard." Sustainability 12, no. 17: 6893.
Precision agriculture is a management approach for sustainable agriculture. It can be applied even in small fields. It aims to optimize inputs, improve profits, and reduce adverse environmental impacts. In this study, a series of measurements were conducted over three growing seasons to assess variability in a 0.55 ha pear orchard located in central Greece. Soil ECa was measured using EM38 sensor, while soil samples were taken from a grid 17 × 8 m and analysed for texture, pH, P, K, Mg, CaCO3, and organic matter content. Data analysis indicated that most of the nutrients were at sufficient levels. Soil and yield maps showed considerable variability while fruit quality presented small variations across the orchard. Yield fluctuations were observed, possibly due to climatic conditions. Prescription maps were developed for nitrogen variable rate application (VRA) for two years based on the replacement of the nutrients removed by the crop. VRA application resulted in 56% and 50% reduction of N fertiliser compared to uniform application.
Anna Vatsanidou; George D. Nanos; Spyros Fountas; John Baras; Anamaria Castrignano; Theofanis A. Gemtos. Nitrogen replenishment using variable rate application technique in a small hand-harvested pear orchard. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research 2018, 15, e0209 .
AMA StyleAnna Vatsanidou, George D. Nanos, Spyros Fountas, John Baras, Anamaria Castrignano, Theofanis A. Gemtos. Nitrogen replenishment using variable rate application technique in a small hand-harvested pear orchard. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research. 2018; 15 (4):e0209.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnna Vatsanidou; George D. Nanos; Spyros Fountas; John Baras; Anamaria Castrignano; Theofanis A. Gemtos. 2018. "Nitrogen replenishment using variable rate application technique in a small hand-harvested pear orchard." Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research 15, no. 4: e0209.
Bioenergy and biomaterials from fiber crops are regarded as promising substitutes for conventional ones, considering the growing concern about oil and other non-renewable resources depletion and the environmental impacts of the conventional systems. In this paper, the environmental aspects of fiber crops cultivation and use are reviewed. The analysis was based on the following categories: use of resources, emission of gases, effects on the quality of soil and water and biological and landscape diversity.As bioenergy and biomaterials carriers, fiber crops offer ecological advantages over conventional ones by contributing to carbon sequestration and energy savings, and to the reduction of greenhouse gases and non-renewable resources. However, other environmental outcomes, such as acidifying and eutrophication emissions, may limit the conversion and use of fiber crops. Even so, the low input requirements associated with this class of crops and its phytoremediation aptness for wastewaters or contaminated land, are some of the environmental advantages associated with fiber crops.Crop management options and processing choices can influence the outcomes, but site specific factors should be accurately assessed to evaluate the adequacy between crop and location. Opportunities for improvement are indicated, in order to provide new insights for the future development of these crops in a sustainable agro-industrial framework. © 2014 Elsevier B.V
Ana Luisa Fernando; Maria Paula Duarte; Anna Vatsanidou; Efi Alexopoulou. Environmental aspects of fiber crops cultivation and use. Industrial Crops and Products 2015, 68, 105 -115.
AMA StyleAna Luisa Fernando, Maria Paula Duarte, Anna Vatsanidou, Efi Alexopoulou. Environmental aspects of fiber crops cultivation and use. Industrial Crops and Products. 2015; 68 ():105-115.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAna Luisa Fernando; Maria Paula Duarte; Anna Vatsanidou; Efi Alexopoulou. 2015. "Environmental aspects of fiber crops cultivation and use." Industrial Crops and Products 68, no. : 105-115.
Production standards in the form of legal regulations or quality assurance labels are playing an increasingly important role in farming. Each farm must therefore gather information on all standards which apply, which may vary from field-to-field, and ensure that they are respected during operations. This information may be provided on paper or as electronic documents, by the standards publishers or by advisors. Together with the need to document compliance, the need to collect and process the requirements is becoming increasingly burdensome for farmers. In this paper, two questions are addressed: whether an automation of the compliance checking is possible, in order to assist the farmer by proactively warning against ‘forbidden’ operations, and how the definition of the production standard may be formally represented in order to clearly and unambiguously inform the farmer as to what is required. This formal representation also forms one of the prerequisites for any automated assessment. As an initial step, a general model of production standards was developed and applied to some common standards in European agriculture. Based on this model, separating standards into metadata and a list of individual rules (check points), a formal representation was developed and an assessment was made as to whether an automated compliance check was feasible.
Edward Nash; Jens Wiebensohn; Raimo Nikkilä; Anna Vatsanidou; Spyros Fountas; Ralf Bill. Towards automated compliance checking based on a formal representation of agricultural production standards. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 2011, 78, 28 -37.
AMA StyleEdward Nash, Jens Wiebensohn, Raimo Nikkilä, Anna Vatsanidou, Spyros Fountas, Ralf Bill. Towards automated compliance checking based on a formal representation of agricultural production standards. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 2011; 78 (1):28-37.
Chicago/Turabian StyleEdward Nash; Jens Wiebensohn; Raimo Nikkilä; Anna Vatsanidou; Spyros Fountas; Ralf Bill. 2011. "Towards automated compliance checking based on a formal representation of agricultural production standards." Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 78, no. 1: 28-37.