Energy use pattern of some field crops and vegetable production: Case study for Antalya Region, Turkey

This research examines the energy use patterns and energy input-output analysis of some field crops (wheat, cotton, maize, sesame) and vegetables (tomato, melon, watermelon) widely grown in the Antalya region, which is one of the most important agricultural centres in Turkey. Operational inputs and energy sources for cultivating the field crops and vegetables were determined by a questionnaire applied to 102 farmers from nine villages, which were selected according to their regional properties. Basic operational parameters, such as draft force and power take off torque of agricultural implements, were measured by using a computer based data acquisition system. The highest value of the operational inputs was found to be 17,629.5 MJ ha−1 for tomato cultivation, followed by cotton crop at 14,348.9 MJ ha−1 and, finally, wheat crop at 3735.4 MJ ha−1. In these operational inputs, the highest energy requirements were found for seedbed preparation and irrigation with shares of 13.7-65.1% and 26.3-40.4%, respectively. In the total energy inputs, the maximum energy requirements were determined for cultivating the tomato and cotton crops with values of 45,596.5 MJ ha−1 and 34,891.2 MJ ha−1, respectively. In these energy sources, fertilizer and Diesel inputs contained the highest energy with ranges of 40.1-54.1% and 17.4-43.1%, respectively. The values of specific energy and energy ratio for cultivating wheat, cotton, maize, second crop sesame, tomato, melon and watermelon crops were calculated at 5.24 MJ kg−1 and 2.8, 11.24 MJ kg−1 and 4.8, 3.88 MJ kg−1 and 3.8, 16.21 MJ kg−1 and 1.5, 1.14 MJ kg−1 and 0.7, 0.98 MJ kg−1 and 1.9 and 0.97 MJ kg−1 and 2.0, respectively.