Environmental impact of heavy pig production in a sample of Italian farms. A cradle to farm-gate analysis.

摘要: Abstract Four breeding piggeries and eight growing-fattening were analyzed to estimate potential environmental impacts of heavy pig production (> 160 kg live height at slaughtering). Life Cycle Assessment methodology was adopted in the study, considering a system from phase growing fattening phase. Environmental accounted separately then combined obtain production. The functional unit 1 kg weight gain. Impact categories investigated global warming (GW), acidification (AC), eutrophication (EU), abiotic depletion (AD), photochemical ozone formation (PO). total impact gain 3.3 kg CO2eq, 4.9 E − 2 kg SO2eq, 3.1 E − 2 kg PO43 − eq, 3.7 E − 3 kg Sbeq, 1.7 E − 3 kg C2H4eq for GW, AC, EU, AD, PO respectively. Feed main hotspot all categories. Greenhouse gases responsible GW mainly CH4, N2O, CO2. Ammonia most important source sharing about 90%. Nitrate NH3 emissions whereas P NOx showed minor contributions. Crude oil natural gas consumption AD. A large spectrum pollutants had significant on PO: they comprised CH4 manure fermentation, CO2 caused by fossil fuel combustion agricultural operations industrial processes, ethane propene emitted during extraction refining, hexane used soybean extraction. farm characteristics that best explained results fundamentally connected with performance indicators Farms wide variability results, meaning there margin improving either or farms. effectiveness some mitigation measures evaluated could be obtained their introduction have been presented.