Rudolph, Gwendolyn; Hörtenhuber, Stefan; Bochicchio, Davide; Butler, Gillian; Brandhofer, Roland; Dippel, Sabine; Dourmad, Jean Yves; Edwards, Sandra; Früh, Barbara; Meier, Matthias; Prunier, Armelle; Winckler, Christoph; Zollitsch, Werner and Leeb, Christine (2018) Effect of Three Husbandry Systems on Environmental Impact of Organic Pigs. Sustainability, 10 (10), p. 3796.
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Summary in the original language of the document
This study examined the environmental impact of the three common organic pig husbandry systems, indoor (n = 24), partly outdoor (n = 30), and outdoor (n = 10), in eight European countries. Global warming (GWP), acidification (AP), and eutrophication potential (EP) was assessed per 1000 kg pig live weight on 64 farrow-to-finish pig production chains (cradle to farm gate). GWP, AP, and EP varied greatly, and the most important source was feed production, followed by housing. GWP did not differ between systems (p = 0.934), but AP in indoor systems and EP in outdoor systems were higher than in partly outdoor systems (p = 0.006 and p = 0.010, respectively). The higher AP in indoor systems can mainly be explained by NH3 arising from manure spreading, while PO4-eq arising from feed consumption and emissions on pasture accounted for the higher EP in outdoor systems. Associations of farm characteristics with (reduced) environmental impacts were mainly found for AP and EP, and included: (Increasing) farm size, numbers of piglets born and weaned per litter, (bought-in) mineral feed, and high-protein by-products, the latter probably connected to beneficial effects of appropriate dietary digestible lysine levels and feed conversion ratio. Increasing carcass weights and dietary cereal proportions were associated with higher environmental impacts. Overall, variation was mostly higher within than between systems, and measures to mitigate environmental impact were identified.
EPrint Type: | Journal paper |
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Keywords: | life cycle assessment, global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, cradle to farm gate, indoor, outdoor, animal husbandry, pigs |
Agrovoc keywords: | Language Value URI English UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED |
Subjects: | Animal husbandry > Health and welfare Animal husbandry > Production systems > Pigs Environmental aspects |
Research affiliation: | Austria > Univ. BOKU Wien > Sustainable Agr. Systems - IfÖL Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Knowledge exchange > Advice Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Society > Rural sociology Germany > Federal Research Institute of Animal Health - FLI France > INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique Italy > Univ. Modena / Reggio Emilia UK > Univ. Newcastle |
ISSN: | EISSN 2071-1050 |
DOI: | 10.3390/su10103796 |
Deposited By: | Früh, Barbara |
ID Code: | 34749 |
Deposited On: | 28 Feb 2019 10:13 |
Last Modified: | 29 Nov 2023 10:10 |
Document Language: | English |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Peer-reviewed and accepted |
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