Comparing the sustainability of protective agricultural ecosystems based on energy efficiency indicators in wheat, barley and cotton crop rotation (case study: Birjand)

This research was conducted in order to evaluate the effect of conservation agriculture on energy indicators in common agricultural ecosystems using a split plot design in the form of randomized complete blocks with three replications in the climatic conditions of Birjand. In this research, the studied treatments include tillage methods in three levels of conventional tillage methods (plough+disc+leveling+farrower+planting with seeds), reduced plowing (chisel packer or light disc + farrower+planting with seeds) and no plowing. (Direct planting with seed drill) in the main plots and plant residues at three levels without residues, 30% retention and 60% retention of wheat residues in secondary plots. This study was investigated in the rotation system of wheat, barley and cotton. The results showed that in the period under study, the largest contribution of electricity was 68.7%, nitrogen was 11.9% and fuel was 8.9%. The share of direct energy from the total energy input for all three tillage methods was more than 75%. The effect of tillage practices was only significant on the efficiency of energy consumption; So that the change of tillage methods from conventional tillage to no tillage and reduced tillage was associated with a decrease in energy consumption by 11.6 and 9.9, respectively. The results of the energy index analysis indicated that the use of conservation tillage methods is recommended in terms of the superiority of the energy consumption efficiency index for wheat, barley and cotton cropping systems in the climatic conditions of Birjand.