title: Improved Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Crop Production at the Catchment Scale via a Process-Based Nitrogen Simulation Model.
abstract: One of the major challenges in environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of crop production is the nonlinearity between nitrogen (N) fertilizer inputs and on-site N emissions resulting from complex biogeochemical processes. A few studies have addressed this nonlinearity by combining process-based N simulation models with LCA, but none accounted for nitrate (NO3(-)) flows across fields. In this study, we present a new method, TNT2-LCA, that couples the topography-based simulation of nitrogen transfer and transformation (TNT2) model with LCA, and compare the new method with a current LCA method based on a French life cycle inventory database. Application of the two methods to a case study of crop production in a catchment in France showed that, compared to the current method, TNT2-LCA allows delineation of more appropriate temporal limits when developing data for on-site N emissions associated with specific crops in this catchment. It also improves estimates of NO3(-) emissions by better consideration of agricultural practices, soil-climatic conditions, and spatial interactions of NO3(-) flows across fields, and by providing predicted crop yield. The new method presented in this study provides improved LCA of crop production at the catchment scale.
authors: INRA/Agrocampus Ouest, UMR1069, Soil, Agro and hydroSystem, F-35000 Rennes, France.
authors: Wenjie
authors: W
authors: Liao
authors: INRA/Agrocampus Ouest, UMR1069, Soil, Agro and hydroSystem, F-35000 Rennes, France.
authors: Hayo M G
authors: HM
authors: van der Werf
authors: INRA/Agrocampus Ouest, UMR1069, Soil, Agro and hydroSystem, F-35000 Rennes, France.
authors: Jordy
authors: J
authors: Salmon-Monviola
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D000069599:Crop Production; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D005308:Fertilizers / Q000032:analysis; D005602:France; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009566:Nitrates / Q000032:analysis; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D005308:Fertilizers; D009566:Nitrates; D012987:Soil; D009584:Nitrogen