Energy
S. N. Mosavian; H. Eskandari
Abstract
This research, conducted in Gotvand, southwest Iran, evaluated the energy balance of a field system which watermelon produced in it. In the current research, energy inputs of watermelon planting were measured. To reach this goal, questionnaires were given to the farmers to record the amount of energy ...
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This research, conducted in Gotvand, southwest Iran, evaluated the energy balance of a field system which watermelon produced in it. In the current research, energy inputs of watermelon planting were measured. To reach this goal, questionnaires were given to the farmers to record the amount of energy input to their watermelon planting field. Statistical analysis of the data revealed that nitrogen was the input with the highest consumption of energy (4175 MJ.ha-1) followed by diesel fuel. About 90% of the consumed energy of watermelon planting system was seen for energies which cannot be renewed. The results showed that the efficiency of energy consumption was positive, indicating that the amount of output energy was higher than that of input energy. With each unit of energy was consumed, 4.86 units of energy were produced, which indicates high energy efficiency. For improving the efficiency of energy usage in the watermelon planting system, nitrogen application to the system should be reduced and it can be reached by suitable rotation which diminish the nitrogen needs.
Energy
H. Eskandari; S. N. Mosavian
Abstract
This research, conducted in Gotvand, southwest of Iran, compared the energy consumption of two cucumber production systems: field and greenhouse production systems. In this study, energy inputs of two production systems of cucumber (including seed, pesticide, human labor, machinery, diesel fuel, electricity, ...
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This research, conducted in Gotvand, southwest of Iran, compared the energy consumption of two cucumber production systems: field and greenhouse production systems. In this study, energy inputs of two production systems of cucumber (including seed, pesticide, human labor, machinery, diesel fuel, electricity, organic manure, chemical fertilizer) were determined from questionnaires completed by farmers. The results of the experiment indicated that the energy input of the two cultivation systems was not significantly different in input energies. In both cucumber production systems, the most input energy was allocated to nitrogen fertilizer (57% and 53% for field and greenhouse, respectively) followed by diesel fuel (21% in both production systems). Non-renewable energies accounted for 90 and 88% of the total energy input to the farm and greenhouse systems, respectively. Total output energy of field and greenhouse cucumber production system was 33000 and 34000 MJ, respectively. Reducing the consumption of nitrogen fertilizer through the use of appropriate crop rotation is a suitable solution to improve energy efficiency in the cucumber production system.