Abstract
Ornamental production worldwide has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. A globalized scene has shifted production to new countries from Africa, Asia, and South America. Sustainability is the major challenge for ornamental production, and the life cycle assessment (LCA) provides insights on environmental contributions from production to handling and transportation and highlights the problematic issues that need improvement. For example, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the production costs of roses in different parts of the world may vary dramatically between different production processes (e.g., heated or non-heated greenhouses, with or without air transportation, etc.). On the other hand, the production of landscape plants has the lowest environmental impact of all floricultural products. Their long production period offers carbon sequestrations that reduce the total GHG emissions. Sustainability is achieved via critical adjustments on cultivation by minimizing fuel and electricity use, adopting integrated nutrient management (INM) and integrated pest and disease management (IPDM), and using recyclable materials and peat-alternative growing compounds. In this review, two possible scenarios were proposed for ornamental production. Scenario I suggests conventional, protected cultivation under controlled environments (i.e., greenhouses), which can be sustainable after implementing appropriate adjustments to reduce environmental outputs. Scenario II suggests the cultivation of native and specialty ornamental crops, which may serve as eco-friendly alternatives. Combinations between the two scenarios are also possible in view to implement sustainable practices and meet future consumer needs.
Highlights
Provides insights on environmental contributions from production to handling and transportation and highlights the problematic issues that need improvement
The life cycle assessment (LCA) of cut flower production was linked to the following categories (Table 2): (a) production and delivery of greenhouse construction materials, chemicals, and fertilizers, compost or hydroponic substrates and propagation material, (b) energy, water, pesticides and fertilizers used in cultivation, (c) energy and materials consumed at handling and packaging, (d) energy used for transportation the wholesale or to the final destination at retail or to consumer
Analysis presented by Sahle and Potting [13] for roses produced in Ethiopia showed that the major contributions to abiotic depletionand (AD), AA, EU, global warming (GW), ozone depletion (OD), human toxicity (HT), freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity (FAET), marine ecotoxicity (MAET), terrestrial ecotoxicity (TE), and photochemical oxidation (PO) were recorded at plant growth management and ranged from 75 to 90%
Summary
Global ornamental production and consumption has overcome serious challenges in the past. The EU holds the first place in cut flower and ornamental pot-plant sales with 31.0% of the global value, with China and USA in second and third place at 18.6 and 12.5%, respectively [1]. The USA is the third production country in the world, in the past 20 years, cut flower production declined and imports increased [5]. Specialty cut flower production in the USA and Canada increased due to a significant increase in consumer demand [6] This favored imports of the well-known commercial cut flower species such as roses, chrysanthemum, carnations, alstroemeria, etc., from South to North America. Review structure showing thethe implementation of of lifelife cycle assessment to to floricultural products (i.e., cut flowers, pot-plants, and landscape plants).
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