Applying DEA optimization approach for energy auditing in wheat cultivation under rice-wheat and cotton-wheat cropping systems in north-western India

摘要

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is highly energy intensive winter crop grown in rice-wheat and cotton-wheat cropping systems in north-western India. In this study, energy input-output relationships for wheat cultivation were estimated from data collected from 80 wheat producers (40 each in rice-wheat and cotton-wheat cropping system) by face-to-face survey. Energy input through irrigation water was significantly (p 0.05) higher by 517 MJ ha(-1) (14.5%) in wheat under cotton-wheat (4093 +/- 133 MJ ha(-1)), compared with rice-wheat (3576 +/- 124 MJ ha(-1)); while energy input difference from other sources was non-significant among cropping systems. Data pooled for cropping systems revealed that chemical fertilizers comprised similar to 45%, while irrigation, electricity and diesel fuel consumption each shared similar to 15% towards total input energy (E-I). Wheat cultivation was energy efficient with EI of 25.6 +/- 0.5 GJ ha(-1) and total output energy (E-O) of 191.7 +/- 3.6 GJ ha(-1) produced net energy gain (NEG) of 166.1 +/- 3.5 GJ ha(-1). Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) elucidated 28 decision making units (DMUs) as energy efficient with technical score (TE) of 1.00, while 52 DMUs (similar to 65% of total DMUs) with TE 1.00 were inefficient. Therefore, by the adoption of recommendations of the study, 3819 +/- 641 MJ ha(-1) (similar to 12% of E-I) energy saving is possible from different inputs in wheat cultivation. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.