LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

PARALLEL SESSION 5B: METHODOLOGICAL CHALLENGES FOR CROP PRODUCTION SYSTEMS 8 th Int. Conference on
LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
For the sake of practicability the Cereal Unit is based on fresh weight. Because the storability of agricultural
products is affected by the moisture content, each agricultural product is traded in the market with a
specific moisture content or dry matter content, i.e. fresh cereals: 88% dry matter.
For agricultural products that are not feasible or not intended for animal nutrition (e.g. fruits or animal
products) Cereal Unit conversion factors can be calculated via auxiliary calculations. E.g. the Cereal Unit for
animal products is the quotient from fodder energy to produce 1 kilogram of product [in Megajoule metabolisable
energy] and the animal specific energy content of barley [in Megajoule metabolisable energy] (Mönking
et al., 2010). In consequence, for all agricultural products, Cereal Unit conversion factors theoretically
can be calculated (Table 1).
Table 1. Cereal Unit conversion factors for selected agricultural products and by-products in Germany;
Sources: (BMELV, 2012; Mönking et al., 2010)
Field crops and by-products
(basis: fresh weight)
Cereal Unit conversion factor
Barley 1.00
Malt sprouts 0.74
Malt spent grains / brewers' spent grains / draff 0.75
Beer yeast 0.91
Wheat 1.04
Distillery spent wash from wheat 0.06
Rye 1.00
Cereal straw 0.43
Maize corn 1.08
Maize starch 1.07
Maize gluten 1.22
Maize gluten feed 0.82
Soybeans 1.15
Soybean oil 2.81
Soybean meal 0.96
Rape seeds 1.30
Rapeseed oil 2.74
Rapeseed meal 0.77
Sugar beet 0.23
Sugar beet leaves 0.13
Cassava / manioc 1.03
Potato 0.22
Grass, fresh 0.16
Grass silage 0.27
Grass hay 0.61
Cherries, sweet 2.73
Blueberries 3.42
Strawberries 1.16
Broccoli 0.87
Cabbage 0.18
Lettuce 0.46
Asparagus 1.71
Cattle, total, live weight 5.98
Calf, at birth, live weight 4.52
Dairy cow, live weight 6.30
Milk, unskimmed, for human nutrition 0.80
Laying hen 4.60
Eggs 2.28
Sheep, live weight 9.10
Wool, raw 1.90
463