Leon, A and Nedumaran, S (2024) Estimating the effect of biological nitrification inhibition-enabled sorghum on nitrogen fertilizer consumption, life cycle GHG emissions, farmer's benefit and fertilizer subsidy from Indian sorghum production. Science of the Total Environment (TSI), 957. pp. 1-10. ISSN 0048-9697
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Abstract
Biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) effectively curtails nitrogen (N) loss and enhances N utilization efficiency. BNI is increasingly important as a technology for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution in countries with high N fertilizer consumption. This study aimed to evaluate the potential impacts of BNI-enabled sorghum varieties with a 30 % soil nitrification inhibition rate for a major sorghum-growing state (Maharashtra, India). We analysed the farm survey data collected for Rabi sorghum in 2020–2021 (n = 250) and for Kharif sorghum in 2022 (n = 209). Life cycle greenhouse gas (LC-GHG) emissions were estimated using a life cycle assessment with a cradle-to-farm gate perspective. The results showed that adoption of BNI-enabled sorghum reduced N fertilizer application in the Rabi and Kharif seasons by 8.0 % and 7.4 % and area-scaled/yield-scaled LC-GHG emissions by 15.6 % and 11.2 %, respectively, while increasing farmers' benefits slightly. These changes could reduce the government's expenditure on urea fertilizer subsidies by 9.1 %. However, many farmers indicated that they would not change N fertilizer application even if the yield per N fertilizer application increased. Even under these circumstances, area-scaled/yield-scaled LC-GHG emissions will be decreased by 11.3 % and 13.5 % in the Rabi season and 8.1 % and 10.2 % in the Kharif season, respectively. The yield and farmers' benefit will increase by 2.5 % and 4.9 % in the Rabi season and by 2.4 % and 6.5 % in the Kharif season, respectively, but the government's expenditure on fertilizer will not decrease. These results indicate that BNI-enabled sorghum can be introduced into countries where fertilizer use is low. This study shows the potential impacts of BNI-enabled sorghum under two scenarios; N fertilizer consumption is reduced or maintained. Discussions on the N fertilizer consumption under BNI-enabled sorghum are needed to establish a sustainable food system, especially in countries with high N fertilizer consumption.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Divisions: | Global Research Program - Enabling Systems Transformation |
| CRP: | UNSPECIFIED |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Biological nitrification inhibition, Life cycle assessment, Sorghum, Subsidy, Sustainable food system |
| Subjects: | Others > Sustainable Agriculture Mandate crops > Sorghum Others > Fertilizers |
| Depositing User: | Mr Nagaraju T |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Jul 2025 06:03 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Jul 2025 06:03 |
| URI: | http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/13230 |
| Official URL: | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/... |
| Projects: | UNSPECIFIED |
| Funders: | UNSPECIFIED |
| Acknowledgement: | The authors are grateful to Dr. Subarao and Dr. Yoshihashi for helpful comments. They are also grateful to Mr. Chan at ICRISAT for the survey. |
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