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Life cycle assessment of the winter wheat-summer maize production system on the North China Plain

A life cycle assessment (LCA) method was used to examine the environmental impact of the winter wheat-summer maize production system on the North China Plain. The LCA considered the entire system required to produce 1 ton each of winter wheat and summer maize. The analysis included raw material extraction and transportation, agrochemical production and transportation, and arable farming in the field. First, all emissions and resource consumption connected to the different processes were listed in a life cycle inventory (LCI) and related to a common unit (1 ton of grain). Subsequently, a life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) was conducted, in which the inventory data were aggregated into indicators for environmental effects, including energy depletion, climate change, acidification, aquatic eutrophication, human toxicity, aquatic and terrestrial ecotoxicity. For winter wheat systems, energy depletion and acidification were the most relevant environmental impacts, and energy depletion and aquatic eutrophication were the primary concerns for summer maize systems. The results revealed that the most important source of environmental impact in the winter wheat-summer maize production system in Huantai County was the production and application of nitrogen fertilisers. The environmental impacts of winter wheat were much stronger than those of summer maize due to higher inputs and lower use efficiency of agrochemicals.