The impact of distance to the cereal plot on the annual emission of diesel exhaust caused by intra-farm transportation

Machines and heavy-duty vehicles used in agriculture are powered almost exclusively by diesel engines. Diesel engines make a significant contribution to air pollution in most European countries. Aside from the engine properties, their use affects the annual diesel exhaust (DE) emission. The enlarging of farm production areas results in longer travelling distances to plots, which cause a higher fuel consumption and annual DE emission. The aim of the present study is to explain annual DE caused by transportation of equipment and materials, depending on plot distance and tillage technology. he calculation of annual DE emission is based on on-road transportation work hours related to cereal plot. In the process of composing a calculation model, all technology/technical equipment used during the whole crop year on the plot is taken into account. The model incorporates two components from the model designed by the author: the transport of field operation units (FOUs) and the transport of technological materials. The simulations include considered specific DE emissions for on-road transport of agricultural machines. The simulations show that plot distance to the farm centre and tillage technology has sig­nificant impact on annual DE emission, especially on NOX amount. The greater the distance from plot to the farm centre, the higher is the emission. The emission is lowest in the case of direct drilling and highest when conventional tillage is used. The average values for CO, NOX, HC and PM are 7.2, 44.4, 2.6 and 1.9 g ha-1 km-1 respectively, in the case of conventional tillage.