Abstract
This paper evaluated the environmental impacts of different agronomic practices for a hemp seed crop grown in Mediterranean environment. The following agricultural variables have been considered: seven monoecious hemp varieties(Epsilon68 (E68), Fedora17 (F17), Felina32 (F32), Ferimon (Fe), Futura75 (F75), Santhica27 (S27), Uso31 (U31)), three plant densities (40, 80, and 120 plants m−2), and two levels of nitrogen (N) fertilization (50 and 100 kg ha−1 of N). Life cycle assessment (LCA) and carbon footprint (CF) methodologies have been applied to evaluate impacts. In all hemp genotypes, the impacts grew by decreasing both N fertilizer and plants densities. The scenario most impacting was E68/F75/S27 genotypes cultivated with 50 kg ha−1 of N fertilizer and 40 plants m−2, while the lowest one was Fe with 100 kg ha−1 of N fertilizer and 120 plants m−2. The highest CF was found for E68/F75/S27 cultivated with 50 kg ha−1 of N fertilizer and 40 plants m−2 (18.720 kg CO2 eq). This study highlighted the most environmentally sustainable agronomic practices to support farmer and decision maker in Cannabis sativa L. cultivation for seed production.
Highlights
Cannabis sativa L., named hemp or industrial hemp, has been cultivated in all continents for centuries for food, textile fibers, and medicine aims [1,2]
This paper evaluated the environmental impacts of different agronomic practices for a hemp seed crop grown in Mediterranean environment
This study evaluated the environmental sustainability of different agronomic practices for a hemp seed crop by means of life cycle assessment and carbon footprint tools
Summary
Cannabis sativa L., named hemp or industrial hemp, has been cultivated in all continents for centuries for food, textile fibers, and medicine aims [1,2]. During the 20th century the increasing use of cotton and synthetic fibers [3] and the prohibition of hemp cultivation in many countries, due to the ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, which is a psychotropic substance, led to a decline in industrial hemp cultivation. Nowadays there is a renewed interest in hemp growing because the European Union reintroduced the legal cultivation of industrial hemp with a THC content lower than 0.2% [4,5]. Even though the industrial hemp has been traditionally grown in Europe for fiber production [6], there is an increasing interest in hemp cultivation as a multipurpose crop. Hemp is usually cultivated to obtain edible seeds that can be consumed as such or from which oil and protein cake are extracted
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