Life cycle energy use, costs, and greenhouse gas emission of broiler farms in different production systems in Iran-a case study of Alborz province.

In order to achieve sustainable development in agriculture, it is necessary to quantify and compare the energy, economic, and environmental aspects of products. This paper studied the energy, economic, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission patterns in broiler chicken farms in the Alborz province of Iran. We studied the effect of the broiler farm size as different production systems on the energy, economic, and environmental indices. Energy use efficiency (EUE) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) were 0.16 and 1.11, respectively. Diesel fuel and feed contributed the most in total energy inputs, while feed and chicks were the most important inputs in economic analysis. GHG emission calculations showed that production of 1000 birds produces 19.13 t CO2-eq and feed had the highest share in total GHG emission. Total GHG emissions based on different functional units were 8.5 t CO2-eq per t of carcass and 6.83 kg CO2-eq per kg live weight. Results of farm size effect on EUE revealed that large farms had better energy management. For BCR, there was no significant difference between farms. Lower total GHG emissions were reported for large farms, caused by better management of inputs and fewer bird losses. Large farms with more investment had more efficient equipment, resulting in a decrease of the input consumption. In view of our study, it is recommended to support the small-scale broiler industry by providing subsidies to promote the use of high-efficiency equipment. To decrease the amount of energy usage and GHG emissions, replacing heaters (which use diesel fuel) with natural gas heaters can be considered. In addition to the above recommendations, the use of energy saving light bulbs may reduce broiler farm electricity consumption.