科研进展

【论文题目】Integrating environmental footprints and ecosystem economic performance to evaluate nitrogen management in intensive drip-irrigated potato production（结合环境足迹与生态系统经济绩效评估集约化滴灌马铃薯氮素管理）

【作者】Yunfei Di (邸云飞) , Haibo Yang（杨海波）,Yuncai Hu（胡云才）, Fei Li（李斐）

【Abstract】

Context: Excessive fertilizer application and poor agronomy management result in adverse environmental impacts and high environmental and economic costs for ecological restoration.

Objective: Analyzing the integrated effects of nitrogen (N) management on environmental footprints, human health, and ecosystem economic benefits (EEB) is essential to intensive potato cultivation under drip irrigation in Northwest China.

Methods: In this study, field experiments were conducted from 2018 to 2020 to evaluate environmental footprints and EEB based on the life cycle assessment (LCA), and a random forest algorithm was used to identify the importance of indicators to N and carbon (C) footprints. The N fertilizer levels were denoted as no N fertilizer application (Control), farmer practice (FP), and optimized N management (OM) based on N-balance principles, soil mineral N, and target yield.

Results and conclusions: The results revealed that OM treatment remarkably reduced reactive N (Nr) losses, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, environmental footprints, and ecosystem costs and increased human health and net EEB potentials per tonne or hectare of potato production. The OM treatment achieved 47.8 %, 27.7 %, 48.8 %, 30.4 %, and 42.9 % lower Nr losses, GHG emissions, N footprint, C footprint, and ecological costs, and 19.6 % higher N-derived net EEB compared to the FP treatment, respectively. The N leaching to the N footprint and N fertilizer to the C footprint were the most critical indicators and gained the highest importance scores. The decreased environmental footprints and increased EEB of OM treatments matched environmentally sustainable demand more than the FP treatment.

Significance: Integrating management measures and optimized N fertilizer rates have significant potential for environmental impacts and sustainable development in an intensive potato system under drip irrigation.

【Keywords】Nitrogen and carbon footprint; Human health effect; Life cycle assessment; Reactive nitrogen losses; Greenhouse gas emissions