Evaluation of environmental pollutants in greenhouse strawberry production by hydroponic method using damage, exergy and emergy indicators in order to achieve production sustainability

In this study, strawberry production in hydroponic greenhouses in Saujblag city was evaluated and analyzed in terms of environmental consequences caused by the consumption of agricultural inputs, exergy demand index and emergy demand. The results of the evaluation indicators were obtained using the IMPACT 2002+ method in Simapro software. The results showed that phosphate fertilizer (P2O5) with about 89% has the greatest effect on the resource extraction effect. According to the weighting calculations, the human damage category had the highest amount and the ecosystem quality category had the least amount of damage. Combustion of diesel fuel and electricity had a significant effect on human health damage with values of 43.68 mPt and 32.17 mPt, respectively. According to the exergy index, non-renewable fossil resources with a share of about 99% and a value of 10,893.13 megajoules per ton accounted for the highest cumulative exergy demand. Also, based on the results, the highest emergy in crop production is related to human labor with a value of 1.73E+16 (sej/ha) and then the highest emergy values were related to irrigation water and natural gas with a value of 1.36E+16 and 5.36E+15, respectively. Based on the results, it is suggested that by using new methods of greenhouse management based on the optimal consumption of agricultural inputs and replacing all kinds of chemical fertilizers with organic fertilizers, the environmental effects of strawberry production will be reduced and the sustainability of this product will be increased.