Abstract

This paper examines the energy consumption of wheat, barley and maize production in Iran (Saveh area). This study was conducted over 28,400 ha of irrigated wheat, barley and maize fields and 19,300 ha of dry land wheat and barley fields in Saveh, a central city, Iran, in the harvest year of 2003 - 2004. The data was collected from three different sources: questionnaire, literature review and field measurement. Total energy consumption for irrigated wheat, barley and maize were estimated as 51587, 53529 and 72743 MJ/ha, respectively. Also energy consumption for wheat and barley in dry land system were estimated as 12543 and 11935 MJ/ha, respectively. The average operational energy consumption for cultivation of wheat (irrigated), wheat (dry land), barley (irrigated) , barley (dry land) and maize were 36107, 6067, 40498, 6250 and 48632 MJ/ha, respectively. The maximum energy consumed in these productions, for irrigated farming systems and dry land farming system were irrigation and tillage, respectively. Fuel consumption is one of the important input elements, which must be taken under close managerial supervision in order to optimize the amount of energy consumed.

Key words: Energy consumption, production, agricultural machinery, wheat, barley, maize