Volume 112, Part 4, 20 January 2016, Pages 2518–2528
Highlights
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- Most environmental impacts are indirect (generated outside pig farms).
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- Feed consumption and pig housing accounts for the major environmental impacts.
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- Anaerobic lagoons are not an environmentally friendly approach to manage pig manure.
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- Anaerobic lagoons are the main opportunity to reduce the environmental impacts.
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- Direct land spreading and composting are realistic alternatives to valorize manure.
Abstract
As
pork is indispensable in the diet of Cuban people, the government was
forced to prioritize its production. Pig production causes several
environmental impacts related with air, water and soil pollution, which
can be quantified with the application of Life Cycle Assessment that
allows to optimize products and processes by identifying their
environmental impacts. Farming systems considered in different Life
Cycle Assessment studies show substantial differences in their
characteristics, namely: animal productivity, feed composition, manure
management and production period, which influences the environmental
performance of each system. Therefore, each study is unique for the
system it assesses and should be analyzed individually. In Cuba, the
environmental implications of pig production, whose understanding is
cornerstone to eventually adopt more environmentally sound practices
while ensuring high productivity standards, are yet to be quantified.
This
study provides some fundamental insights in the life cycle of pig
production in the province of Cienfuegos. The assessment if focused in
large farms of the province of Cienfuegos which causes large
environmental impacts. Large farms accounts for the production of 77% of
the pigs delivered to slaughter houses in the province. Pig production
in Cienfuegos accounts for 7–12% of Cuban production. The quantification
of the environmental impacts of pig production resulted in an impact
per finished pig of 120 kg of live weight of 1892 MJ abiotic depletion
of fossil fuels, 1019 kg-CO2-eq. global warming potential,
36 kg 1.4-dichlorobenzene-eq. human toxicity, 17 kg
1.4-dichlorobenzene-eq. terrestrial toxicity, 1 kg 1.4-ethylene-eq.
photo-oxidant formation, 12 kg-SO2-eq. acidification potential and 6 kg PO4-eq. eutrophication potential.
It
appeared that the main opportunities to improve the environmental
performance of pig production in Cienfuegos are reduction of the impacts
of the anaerobic lagoons used for manure management on global warming
potential, acidification potential and eutrophication and the impact on
acidification potential of pig housing. Direct land spreading of manure
appears as the best alternative to lagooning, considering the current
situation of pig breeding in Cienfuegos.
Keywords
- Pig production;
- Life Cycle Assessment;
- Environmental impact
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