Department of Agricultural Machinery Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.
Department of Agricultural Machinery Engineering, Ramin Agriculture and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani, Iran.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2017 Feb;24(5):4812-4821. doi: 10.1007/s11356-016-8228-2. Epub 2016 Dec 16.
Saffron is regarded as an important crop in Iranian agricultural economics that needs to be investigated to produce the environmentally friendlier product. In the present study, saffron production as an important agricultural production system in Iran was evaluated thoroughly from an environmental point of view. Data were collected from saffron farmers in Southern Khorasan province of the country with face-to-face questionnaire method during cropping period of 2013-2014. The system boundary was considered from the production of raw input materials to the harvested saffron. In order to identify the main hotspot during cultivation, impact categories were considered using CML methodology and cumulative exergy demand (CExD) indicator. Based on the results, chemical fertilizers N and P were the main hotspots in abiotic depletion (AD), acidification (AC), global warming (GWP), and photochemical oxidation (PO) impact categories, while diesel fuel was the main hotspot in fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity (FE), marine aquatic ecotoxicity (ME), and terrestrial ecotoxicity (TE). Direct emission from diesel fuel combustion (saffron) was the main hotspot only in human toxicity (HT). The small farms had the highest amounts of AD, AC, EP, GWP, and PO indicators in comparison with the medium and large farms. Total CExD indicator for production of 1 kg saffron was 1894.23 MJ eq. Totally, large farms (bigger than 1 ha) had better environmental performance considering all the impact categories.
藏红花被视为伊朗农业经济中的重要作物，需要进行研究以生产对环境更友好的产品。本研究从环境角度全面评估了藏红花作为伊朗重要农业生产系统的生产情况。数据是通过在 2013-2014 年种植期间采用面对面问卷调查方法从该国南呼罗珊省的藏红花种植者那里收集的。系统边界被认为从原材料的生产到收获的藏红花。为了确定种植过程中的主要热点，使用 CML 方法和累积做功需求 (CExD) 指标考虑了影响类别。根据结果，化肥 N 和 P 是生物耗竭 (AD)、酸化 (AC)、全球变暖 (GWP) 和光化学氧化 (PO) 影响类别的主要热点，而柴油燃料是淡水水生生态毒性 (FE)、海洋水生生态毒性 (ME) 和陆地生态毒性 (TE) 的主要热点。柴油燃料燃烧（藏红花）的直接排放仅在人类毒性 (HT) 中是主要热点。与中大型农场相比，小型农场的 AD、AC、EP、GWP 和 PO 指标的数量最高。生产 1 公斤藏红花的总 CExD 指标为 1894.23 MJ eq。总的来说，考虑到所有影响类别，大型农场（大于 1 公顷）的环境表现更好。
