RT Journal Article
T1 Determining the environmental and economic implications of lupin cultivation in wheat-based organic rotation systems in Galicia, Spain
A1 Rebolledo Leiva, Ricardo
A1 Almeida-García, Fernando
A1 Pereira Lorenzo, Santiago
A1 Ruiz Nogueiras, Benigno
A1 Moreira Vilar, María Teresa
A1 González García, Sara
K1 Legumes
K1 Life cycle assessment
K1 Crop rotation
K1 Cropping systems
K1 Nitrogen fertilisation
K1 Functional unit
AB Crop rotation represents a potentially sustainable strategy to address environmental problems of intensive agricultural practices, such as soil degradation, biodiversity reduction, and greenhouse gas emissions. This manuscript assesses the environmental and economic implications of introducing lupin cultivation into winter wheat-based rotation systems under an organic regime in Galicia, Spain. Life Cycle Assessment methodology was used to determine the environmental impacts of three rotation systems over a six-year period: lupin → wheat → rapeseed (OA1), lupin → potato → wheat (OA2), and lupin → wheat → rapeseed ‖ maize (OA3). For a robust assessment, three functional units were applied: land management (ha), economic indicator (gross margin in euros) and protein content (1 kg of protein-corrected grain). Moreover, the environmental profiles were compared with rotation systems without lupin crop in a conventional regime. In terms of Global Warming, impacts of about 2214, 3119 and 766 kg CO2eq·ha−1 were obtained for OA1, OA2 and OA3, respectively. Moreover, OA1 is the best rotation in terms of land and protein. Meanwhile, OA2 rotation is the best choice in the economic function, as it obtained the highest level of gross margin (5708 €·ha−1). Furthermore, with the exception of acidification, organic systems are less impactful than conventional systems. Ammonia emissions from the use of manure are the reason for these higher impacts. Organic rotations OA1 and OA2 have about 6 % or 15 % less gross margin than their conventional counterparts, respectively, however, an increase of 28 % was obtained for rotation OA3. This study helps decision-makers to implement environmentally and economically viable strategies
PB Elsevier
YR 2022
FD 2022
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/29160
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/29160
LA eng
NO Science of The Total Environment 845 (2022) 157342
NO This research has been supported by the project Enhancing diversity in Mediterranean cereal farming systems (CerealMed) funded by PRIMA Programme and FEDER/Ministry of Science and Innovation–Spanish National Research Agency (PCI2020-111978) and by FEDER 2019/058A project in collaboration with Panaderia da Cunha. R.R.L., S.G.G. and M.T.M. belong to the Galician Competitive Research Groups (GRC)_ED431C-2021/37, co-funded by Xunta de Galicia and FEDER (EU)
DS Minerva
RD 24 abr 2026