Determination of Energy Balance in Organic Wolfberry (Lycium barbarum L.) Production in Turkey

• DOI: 10.1007/s10341-018-0400-z
• Publication Date: 2018-09-27T16:35:25Z
• Authors: Halil Ibrahim Oğuz; Osman Gökdoğan; Mehmet Fırat Baran
• Keywords: 2. Zero hunger; 0211 other engineering and technologies; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; Specific energy; Organic wolfberry; Energy productivity; Energy balance; 02 engineering and technology; 15. Life on land; 7. Clean energy

The aim of this study is to determine the energy balance of organic wolfberry. This study was performed at the organic wolfberry producing facilities during the 2015–2016 production seasons in Aksaray province of Turkey. The agricultural input energies and output energies were used in organic wolfberry production were calculated to determine the energy balance. According to the study findings, the energy inputs in organic wolfberry production were calculated respectively as 3044.23 MJ ha−1 (39.26%) human labour energy, 1694.93 MJ ha−1 (21.86%) diesel fuel energy, 1145.66 MJ ha−1 (14.78%) machinery energy, 984.38 MJ ha−1 (12.70%) organic fertilizers energy, 306 MJ ha−1 (3.95%) irrigation energy, 289.50 MJ ha−1 (3.73%) organic chemicals energy and 289.08 MJ ha−1 (3.73%) transportation energy. Total input energy was calculated as 7753.78 MJ ha−1. Production output organic wolfberry yield were calculated as 10,862.40 MJ ha−1. The energy output/input ratio, specific energy, energy productivity and net energy were calculated respectively as 1.40, 2.66 MJ kg−1, 0.38 kg MJ−1 and 3108.62 MJ ha−1. The consumed total energy input in organic wolfberry production could be classified as 65.07% direct, 34.93% indirect, 59.64% renewable and 40.36% non-renewable.