Data envelopment analysis based energy optimization for improving energy efficiency in wheat established following rice residue management in rice-wheat cropping system

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a winter cereal crop with higher energy footprints. We therefore aimed to budget energy use, establish input-output relationships, and to perform data envelopment analysis (DEA) based optimization in wheat established with innovative super seeder technology. Data-set of 45 decision-making units (DMUs) collected during face-to-face interviews were changed to energy units for enhancing their energy efficiency. These results revealed that total energy input (EI) of 22.6 GJ ha-1 and output energy of 125.3 GJ ha-1 yielded energy productivity of 0.231 kg MJ-1. The net energy gain (102.7 GJ ha-1) accomplished with an energy ratio of 5.6 indicates that super seeder technology was energy-efficient. Direct and indirect energy share -53.2 and 46.8%, whilst renewable and non-renewable energy comprised -24.8 and 75.2% of EI, respectively. Fertilizer-N emerged as the major energy input (-44.7% of EI), followed by irrigation water (-17.4%) and electricity (15.1%). The DEA based benchmarking elucidated 23 DMUs (-51.1% of total studied) as efficient, whilst others inefficient. An average technical efficiency of 0.89 illustrates -11% EI saving possibilities by the adoption of best management practices. These results underpin the overwhelming significance of efficient fertilizer-N, irrigation water and electricity for reduced energy footprints in north-western India.