Energy balance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of Sauceboat Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) production in Türkiye

Abstract

In this study, the efficiency of energy consumption and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from the cultivation of sauceboat pepper were determined. The experiments and research data are based on the 2020 growing season and were conducted in the Karaisali district of Adana province, Turkey. The primary data used in this study, such as the financial system, labor efficiency, fuel consumption levels, weights of tools and machinery used in sauceboat pepper production, fertilizer, and seedling quantities, were obtained from existing calculations, previous studies, and various sources. The energy ratio, specific energy, energy productivity, and net energy in sauceboat pepper were calculated as 0.82, 0.98 MJ kg-1, 1.02 kg MJ-1, and -6845.51 MJ ha-1, respectively. In the case of the sauceboat peppers, the energy of the fuel oil had the highest share of the total energy input, 31.65%. It was followed by energy for planting seedlings, energy for fertilizer, water energy for irrigation, energy for human labour, energy for spraying, and energy for machinery, with 21.55%, 19.64%, 12.55%, 8.59%, 4.45%, and 1.87%, respectively. Total GHG emissions were estimated as 3703.54 kgCO2-eq ha-1 for sauceboat pepper highest-quality production portion in human labour (31.18%). Human labour was followed by diesel fuel consumption (25.79%), machine (0.08%), seedling planting (15.90%), nitrogen fertilizer (15.88%), phosphate fertilizer (4.09%), herbicides (3.68%), fungicides (1.93%), calcium consumption (0.09%), magnesium application (0.08%) and iron (0.52%). In addition, the GHG value for the production of sauceboat peppers was calculated to be 0.096 kgCO2-eq kg-1.