Environmental impact of rabbit production systems: a farm-based cradle-to-gate analysis
Abstract
Rabbit meat could represent a sustainable protein source in a context of growing demand for animal products, but information about its environmental footprint and key hotspots along the production chain remain limited. The present study aimed at providing a multifaceted evaluation of the environmental impact associated with rabbit meat production considering the whole production cycle, by using primary data collected from 46 commercial farms and six interviews with academic and industry experts and technicians of the field. An attributional cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment model encompassed all the main production stages, from the birth of the rabbits to their sale to the slaughterhouse, and included two sub-models covering the breeding and the fattening phases. System boundaries were set to consider the impact associated with the animal and manure management, the production of the feeds consumed by animals and the farm use of the energy sources. The assessed impact categories were global warming potential (GWP, kg CO2-eq), acidification potential (AP, g SO2-eq), eutrophication potential (EP, g PO4-eq), cumulative energy demand (CED, MJ), land occupation (LO, m2/y), abiotic depletion - elements (ADE, mg Sb-eq) and fossil energy (MJ), water scarcity (m3-eq) and terrestrial (TECO, kg 1-4,DB), freshwater (FECO, kg 1-4,DB) and marine (MECO, kg 1-4,DB) ecotoxicity. The functional unit was 1 kg live weight (LW), and the time reference was 1 year. Considering the whole…
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