ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Contribution of Legume-Derived Biological
Nitrogen Fixation in Reducing Greenhouse
Gas Emissions Originating from Agriculture
in Türkiye
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Department of Field Crop, Faculty of Agriculture, Selcuk University, Konya, 42025, Türkiye
Submission date: 2023-09-02
Final revision date: 2023-09-29
Acceptance date: 2023-10-02
Online publication date: 2023-11-23
Publication date: 2024-01-22
Corresponding author
Abdullah Özköse
Field Crops, Selçuk University, Faculty of Agriculture, Konya, Turkey
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2024;33(2):1337-1345
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ABSTRACT
Nitrogen fertilizer production and use contribute to the increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
GHGs due to nitrogen (N) fertilizer use can be reduced to a certain extent with legume agriculture.
This study was conducted to estimate the amount of N produced by biological N fixation (BNF)
in legumes grown in Türkiye, the amount of synthetic N fertilizer corresponding to this amount
of N, and the global GHG emission equivalent of the production, transport, and use of this fertilizer
in the field. Firstly, the amount of N fixed by BNF in a year in legume cultivation areas in Türkiye
was calculated. Then, the GHG equivalents emitted during the production, transport, and application
in the field of synthetic N fertilizers, which is the equivalent of N fixed by BNF, were calculated.
The total amount of N fixed with BNF in 2022 in Türkiye is 363,354 tons. The total GHGs emissions
during the production, transport, and use of N fertilizer equivalent to 363354 t of N fixed by BNF
is 2,631,043 tons CO2-eq. In other words, in one year in Türkiye, 2,631,043 tons of CO2-eq GHGs
will be reduced thanks to legume agriculture. GHG emissions of the Turkish agricultural sector
(total 72.1 Mt CO2-eq) have been reduced by about 3.65% (2.63 Mt CO2-eq). For an economically and
environmentally sustainable agriculture, we need to give more importance to the cultivation of pulses.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.