Life cycle assessment of microbial plant biostimulant production for application in sustainable agricultural systems

Abstract

By 2050, the global population will face increasing food demand due to population growth, prompting the need for sustainable agricultural practices. The European Union aims to address these challenges by reducing fertilizer and pesticide use, expanding organic farming, and limiting global warming to 1.5 °C. Biostimulants have emerged as promising natural tools to boost agricultural productivity by 8–30 % with minimal application per unit area. This study was aimed at assessing the environmental impact of producing Trichoderma-based biostimulants using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, to identify environmental hotspots and propose improvements The research reconstructed the biostimulant production cycle and inventoried inputs and outputs for each step. Environmental impacts were evaluated using the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint method for the current process and the Endpoint method for proposed improvements. From the study, it was found that the liquid substrate production phase had the highest environmental impact, contributing 368 kg CO₂ eq emissions in the global warming category. Key contributors were Potato Dextrose Broth (40 % of emissions) and electricity consumption (44 %). To mitigate these impacts, two measures were proposed by the authors: replacing Potato Dextrose Broth with winter cereals and transitioning to self-generated electricity. These optimizations reduced the overall environmental footprint by approximately one-third, from 16.26 Pt to 11.28 Pt. The study contributed to understanding the potential of biostimulants as sustainable alternatives in green agriculture, offering insights into optimizing production processes to balance increased productivity with environmental sustainability. Biostimulants thus represent a key tool in addressing future agricultural challenges while minimizing ecological impacts.