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Sustainability assessment methodology oriented to soil-associated agricultural experiments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2023

Oscar Iván Monsalve Camacho Open the ORCID record for Oscar Iván Monsalve Camacho [Opens in a new window] ,
Oscar Gonzalo Castillo-Romero Open the ORCID record for Oscar Gonzalo Castillo-Romero [Opens in a new window] ,
Carlos Ricardo Bojacá Aldana Open the ORCID record for Carlos Ricardo Bojacá Aldana [Opens in a new window]  and
Martha Cecilia Henao Toro Open the ORCID record for Martha Cecilia Henao Toro [Opens in a new window]
Oscar Iván Monsalve Camacho*
Affiliation:
Programa de Ingeniería Agronómica, Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales, Bogotá, Colombia
Oscar Gonzalo Castillo-Romero
Affiliation:
Agricultural & Biological Engineering Department and the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Carlos Ricardo Bojacá Aldana
Affiliation:
Department of Basic Sciences and Modelling, Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogotá, Colombia
Martha Cecilia Henao Toro
Affiliation:
Agricultural Sciences Faculty, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
*
Corresponding author: Oscar Iván Monsalve Camacho; Email: omonsalve@udca.edu.co
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Summary

A variety of established tools are available for agricultural sustainability assessment at global, regional, and farm geographical scales. However, no assessment has been reported in research literature to indicate their ability to provide insights about the most sustainable cropping system at plot level or experimental unit. Despite the environmental and social importance of soil in agricultural systems, many of the sustainability assessments use few or no indicators related to soil properties or processes. Hence, we propose a sustainability assessment methodology oriented to soil-associated agricultural experiments (SMAES) by defining its parameters through simulations and testing the methodology with real data from a fertilization tomato experiment with five treatments: chemical control (CR); organic control (OR); and organic:chemical ratios (OR) of 25:75, 50:50, and 75:25. The distance from the maximum, principal component analysis, and product of weighted indicator techniques were chosen for normalization, weighting, and aggregation in a single index process, respectively. Applying the SMAES methodology, the sustainability level of the treatments followed this sequence: CR (0.95) > O25:C75 (0.73) > O50:C50 (0.60) > O75:C25 (0.55) > OR (0.45). The proposed SMAES methodology allows soil researchers to define the best treatment through the interaction of the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of agricultural systems.

Keywords

fertilizationlife cycle assessmentsoil qualitysustainability assessment toolssustainability indicators
Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 59 , 2023 , e18
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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