ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF SPECIFIC GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS BY MEAT PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION IN THE CENTRAL REGION OF RUSSIA’S CONDITIONS

M. Samardzic¹, R.Valentini^1,2, I.I. Vasenev^1
1Russian Timiryazev State Agricultural University, Russia, Moscow, Timiryazevskaya street, 49
²Tuscia University, Italy, Viterbo, 011100, Kamilo de Lellis
Environmental estimation of specific emission of greenhouse gases with meat production and consumption in the Central region of Russia

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Summary. The article is dedicated to the development and testing of the integral algorithm of calculation for estimation of greenhouse gases (СО₂, СН₄ и N₂O) emissions at key stages of the meat production and consumption under conditions of the Central Region of European Russia. Five stages of the life cycle analysis are discussed, from the feed production up to final consumption and waste disposal. Particular algorithms and examples of calculation of the specific greenhouse gas emissions at all stages of the life cycle of meat products are shown. As a main source of the information the materials of branch statistics and monitoring observations, carried out as a part of the LAMP project, were used. According to conducted analysis, the maximum input in the C-footprint of the final product is entered by the stages of the forage production and animal husbandry (from 45…61% in the case of chicken production to 68…77 % in beef production). At the stage of forage production the maximum input in C-footprint is related to mineral fertilizer application (up to 75 %); at the stage of animal husbandry – enteric fermentation in ruminants and N₂O emission from manure. Agroecologically based optimization of the nitrogen fertilizing allows to decrease N₂O emission from the soil for about 40 %. Up to 15% the methane emission can be decreased in result of enteric fermentation in cattle due to their feeding optimization. Total emissions of greenhouse gases are in comparable ranges with European counterparts. The obtained results demonstrate the presence of the significant potential of an increase in economic efficiency of production via further improvement of the work with the organic waste and the by-products.

Keywords: agroecology, global changes, greenhouse gases, emissions, carbon footprint, agriculture, meat production, feed, processing, environmental assessment.