Agricultural activities due to fertilization contribute significantly to nutrient loadings and other environmental burdens, posing a severe threat to ecosystems. Although a portfolio of green agricultural practices is recommended, few studies address the environmental benefits from a life-cycle perspective. This study comprehensively evaluates the cradle-to-gate environmental benefits of integrating rational fertilization, biochar, and constructed wetlands (CWs) exemplified by plum cultivation. Four assessment scenarios were designed: (S1) conventional cultivation, (S2) rational fertilization with biochar amendment, (S3) conventional cultivation with a simulated CWs system, and (S4) rational fertilization with biochar amendment and a simulated CWs system. In the assessment, rational fertilization used half the fertilizer compared to conventional practices, biochar was applied at 0.1 ton/ha, and horizontal subsurface flow CWs were filled with washed gravel and planted with Phragmites australis. The findings show that rational fertilization combined with biochar (S2) or CWs (S3) alone show about half the eutrophication impacts of conventional cultivation (S1). Combining rational fertilization, biochar and CWs (S4) further reduces freshwater and marine eutrophication potentials by ∼73.5 % and ∼69.8 %, respectively. Similarly, these green agricultural practices (either S2 or S4) effectively reduce the overall endpoint impacts by about 47 %, with synergistic improvements, particularly in endpoint freshwater ecotoxicity and freshwater eutrophication, observed for S4 (a significant reduction of 76 %) compared to S1. Regarding the carbon footprint, the production of plums using conventional agriculture emits ∼300 kg CO2-eq per ton-plum, whereas using green agricultural practices results in only ∼138 kg CO2-eq per ton-plum, representing a reduction of 45.8 % in greenhouse gas emissions. This study highlights the potential of green agricultural practices to mitigate NPS nutrient loadings to aquifers and achieve sustainable agricultural management through reduced global warming and other environmental impacts.

中文翻译：

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综合合理施肥、生物炭和人工湿地在减轻营养物负荷方面的生命周期环境效益


施肥引起的农业活动对养分负荷和其他环境负担造成了重大影响，对生态系统构成严重威胁。尽管推荐了绿色农业实践的组合，但很少有研究从生命周期的角度讨论环境效益。本研究全面评估了以李子种植为代表的合理施肥、生物炭和人工湿地 （CW） 相结合的从摇篮到大门的环境效益。设计了四种评估情景：（S1） 常规栽培，（S2） 生物炭改良合理施肥，（S3） 模拟 CWs 系统常规栽培，（S4） 生物炭改良和模拟 CWs 系统合理施肥。在评估中，与传统做法相比，合理施肥使用了一半的肥料，生物炭的施用量为 0.1 吨/公顷，水平地CW 填充了清洗过的砾石并种植了芦苇。研究结果表明，合理施肥结合生物炭 （S2） 或 CW （S3） 单独显示出传统耕作 （S1） 的一半左右的富营养化影响。结合合理施肥、生物炭和 CW （S4） 可进一步将淡水和海洋富营养化潜力分别降低约 73.5 % 和 69.8 %。同样，这些绿色农业实践（S2 或 S4）有效地将总体终点影响减少了约 47%，与 S1 相比，S4 观察到协同改善，特别是在终点淡水生态毒性和淡水富营养化方面（显着减少 76%）。 在碳足迹方面，使用传统农业生产李子每吨李子排放约 300 公斤二氧化碳当量，而使用绿色农业实践每吨李子仅排放约 138 公斤二氧化碳当量，相当于减少了 45.8% 的温室气体排放。本研究强调了绿色农业实践的潜力，以减轻 NPS 养分对含水层的负荷，并通过减少全球变暖和其他环境影响来实现可持续农业管理。