Ricerc@Sapienza

This paper evaluated the environmental impacts of different agronomic practices for a
hemp seed crop grown in Mediterranean environment. The following agricultural variables have been
considered: seven monoecious hemp varieties(Epsilon68 (E68), Fedora17 (F17), Felina32 (F32),
Ferimon (Fe), Futura75 (F75), Santhica27 (S27), Uso31 (U31)), three plant densities (40, 80,
and 120 plants m−2
), and two levels of nitrogen (N) fertilization (50 and 100 kg ha−1 of N). Life cycle
assessment (LCA) and carbon footprint (CF) methodologies have been applied to evaluate impacts.
In all hemp genotypes, the impacts grew by decreasing both N fertilizer and plants densities.
The scenario most impacting was E68/F75/S27 genotypes cultivated with 50 kg ha−1 of N fertilizer
and 40 plants m−2
, while the lowest one was Fe with 100 kg ha−1 of N fertilizer and 120 plants m−2
.
The highest CF was found for E68/F75/S27 cultivated with 50 kg ha−1 of N fertilizer and 40 plants
m−2
(18.720 kg CO2 eq). This study highlighted the most environmentally sustainable agronomic
practices to support farmer and decision maker in Cannabis sativa L. cultivation for seed production