Environmental assessment of a pork-production system in North-East of Spain focusing on life-cycle swine nutrition

Given the importance of pig-meat production in Spain, the present work (based on cumulative energy demand, global warming potential, ReCiPe method and different functional units) presents a life cycle assessment of an intensive pork-production system (growing-finishing pigs from 25 to 105 kg body weight) in North-East of Spain. Emphasis is given on animal feeding (which is separated into 3 phases) while the impact of drinking-water consumption, straw usage and transportation (for feed and straw) are also taken into account for certain scenarios. The results demonstrate that there is a cumulative energy demand of 5.6 MJprim per kg of animal feed and 14.5-35.6 MJprim per kg of meat (live or carcass weight). Moreover, global warming potential (based on a time horizon of 100 years: 100a) is 3.2-5.5 kg CO2.eq per kg of meat (live or carcass weight) and 336-460 kg CO2.eq per market pig. On the other hand, ReCiPe impact per market pig ranges from 60 to 76 Pts, depending on the scenario. Based on all the studied cases, animal feed is responsible for the greatest part of the total impact feed/drinking-water/straw/transportation and transportation is responsible for the second highest impact. A comparison with results from the literature is also provided and critical issues (about feed composition, cleaner-production solutions, etc.) are presented.