Investigation of environmental effects of cabbage production in Dezful county using life cycle assessment

Life cycle assessment is a method for assessing the environmental impact of crop production. The aim of this study was to investigate the environmental effects of cabbage production in Dezful county using life cycle assessment during the 90-96 crop years.

Out of 260 people in the statistical population the sample size was determined using Cochran's formula of 52 people. Relevant information was collected through face-to-face referral and presentation of a questionnaire from the Ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture and Farmers of Dezful.Based on the method presented in ISO14040, the LCA was calculated in four steps: defining the objectives and scope of study, life cycle auditing, impact assessment and integration and interpretation of results.Depletion of water resources, fossil resources, phosphate resources and potash resources. After normalization and weighting, environmental index and resource depletion index were calculated.

The final index of the groups of the effects of global warming, acidity, depletion of water resources, fossil, phosphate and potash were calculated as 0.0011, 0.1010, 0.0021, 0.002, 0.1175 and 0.0093, respectively. Environmental index (Eco-Index) and resource depletion (RDI) were 0.0111 and 0.1309,respectively. Acidity groups and sources of phosphate depletion had the highest potential for environmental damage in the form of environmental impact groups to depletion of resources, respectively.

Managing the optimal use of chemical fertilizers, especially nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers and replacing them with various organic fertilizers, as well as the use of biofertilizers can help reduce the negative environmental effects of cabbage production in Dezful county.