Abstract

Energy is a scarce resource that must be studied, as it is essential for productive activities like agriculture. In this study, energy consumed for wheat production under conventional and zero-till in River Nile State, Sudan was assessed. Energy consumed for land preparation and harvesting was considered for each tillage system. Data on fuel consumption, energy equivalent factors, human and mechanical work rate/h and average yield during winter seasons from 2009 to 2016 were collected. Results showed that energy input of about 19,395 and 16,798.7 MJ/ha for energy ratio, which is an indicator of sustainability ranges from 1 to 2 and 1.3 to 2.9 for conventional and zero-till, respectively during the study period. The difference in mechanical energy input as fossil fuel accounted for about 54 l/ha.

Key words: Scarce, output-input ratio, zero-till, conventional.