Research
 
Journal
 
of
 
Recent 
Sciences
 
______
____
__________________________
______
____
___ 
ISSN
 
2277
-
2502
 
 
Vol.
 
4
(
I
YS
C
-
201
5
),
 
94
-
96
 
(201
5
)
 
Res.
 
J.
 
Recent
.
 
Sci.
 
 
 
International
 
Science
 
Congress
 
Association
 
 
 
 
 
94
 
Impact of Crop Residue Burning on Climate Change: A Scenario of Madhya 
Pradesh, India
 
Tripathi Satyendra
 
School of Energy and Environmental Studies, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Takshashila Campus
, Khandwa Road, Indore, 
452001, MP, INDIA
 
Available
 
online
 
a
t:
 
www.isca.in
,
 
www.isca.me
 
Received
 
6
th
 
August
 
201
5
,
 
revised
 
22
nd
 
August
 
20
1
5
,
 
accepted
 
27
th
 
September
 
20
1
5
 
 
 
 
Abstract
 
Crop residues are generated after harvesting the crops. The main
 
reason behind burning of crop residues is due to difficulty 
in collection of crop residue. If collected, these residues then may be use in different forms like industrial/domestic fuel,
 
fodder, packaging, bedding, wall construction, and green manuring etc
. Burning of crop residues emitted many of the gases 
(SO
2
, NO
2
 
and CO etc) other than green house gases also. This paper is focussed on impact of crop residue burning on the 
green house gases and climate change in Madhya Pradesh. Green house gases (GHGs) e
mitted from agricultural / crop 
residue burning such as carbon dioxide (CO
2
)
, 
methane
 
(CH
4
), nitrous oxide (N
2
O). The total green house gases emitted due 
to crop residue burning from Madhya Pradesh is around 5676.46 kg/year out of which carbon dioxide rele
ased is approx. 
5666.1 kg/year, methane approx. 10.10 kg/year and about 0.26 kg/year of nitrous oxide. It is also compared that the impacts 
of these green house gases over a 20 year time horizon. These gases are responsible for the green house effect or gl
obal 
warming which may cause climate change.
 
 
Keywords:
 
Crop 
residue burning, GHGs, climate change.
 
 
Introduction
 
India is an agriculture based country. Agricultural crop residue 
is plant material which remains after harvesting and processing 
of crop. Th
ere are two types of agricultural 
crop residues such 
as f
ield residues and process residues
. 
In India usually three 
agricultural crops are taken. Between two crops, very less time 
or no time are available to the farmers for preparation of their 
field for n
ext crop. Moreover no economical technologies are 
available for collecting of left over agricultural residues from 
the field. Thus farmers adopt the easiest way i.e. burning of the 
crop residues in the open field. Major crops of Madhya Pradesh 
are cereals 
(83.18 lakh hectares area), pulses (51.79 lakh 
hectares area), oilseeds (72.02 lakh hectares area) and 
commercial crops (7.17 lakh hectares area)
1
. The major crop 
grown in Madhya Pradesh includes paddy, wheat, maize and 
jowar, moong, gram, tur, urad, musta
rd, soybean and groundnut. 
Some commercial crops like sugarcane and cotton is also grown 
in central India. Generally wheat crop residues are burn in the 
field (
figure
-
1)
.
 
 
Madhya Pradesh itself generates approx. 33.18 Mt/year crop 
residues among that 2.0 t
o 3.86 Mt crop residues are burnt every 
year
2
. Burning of crop residue emitted gases like SO
2
, NO
2
3
-
4
 
and CO
2
,
 
N
2
O and CH
4
5
-
9
. Excess amount of carbon dioxide 
(CO
2
), methane (CH
4
) etc gases are emitted in the atmosphere 
due to crop residue burning. These g
ases increase the 
atmospheric temperature which, affect to the worldwide 
environment
4
.
 
 
The aim of this research paper is to quantify the green house 
gases emitted from crop residue burning and their impact on 
climate change. Effort was also made to see th
e impacts of these 
green house gas
es over a 20 year time horizon.
 
 
 
Figure
-
1
 
Wheat crop residue burning
 
Research
 
Journal
 
of
 
Recent 
Sciences
 
______
_
_
______
_________________________
______________
_
________ 
ISSN
 
2277
-
2502
 
Vol.
 
4
(
I
YS
C
-
201
5
),
 
94
-
96
 
(201
5
)
 
 
Res. J. Recent. Sci.
 
 
 
International
 
Science
 
Congress
 
Association
 
 
           
95
 
Material and Methods
 
To calculate the amount of GHGs emissions like carbon dioxide 
(CO
2
), nitrous oxide (N
2
O) and methane (CH
4
) following 
formula was
 
used
10
.
 
E = M x EF
 
 
Where: 
E= Total emission of the gaseous species considered 
(kg/year)
. 
M= mass of dry matter burned (kg) and
 
EF= 
Emission Factor (g/kg).
 
 
The emission factors 
of GHGs are mentioned in 
t
able
-
1.
 
 
Table
-
1
 
Emission factors
 
Name of the Gas
 
E
mission factors of crop 
residues (g/kg)
 
Carbon dioxide (CO
2
)
 
1515
 
Methane (CH
4
)
 
2.7
 
Nitrous Oxide (N
2
O)
 
0.07
 
 
The data such as mass of dry matter burned was given in table 
2
11
. These values of emission factor (
t
able
-
1) of crop residues 
were taken from
 
Table
-
2
12
. 
On the basis of above formula 
total 
emission of the gaseous species was calculated. 
 
 
Table
-
2
 
Generation and burning of crop residues in Madhya 
Pradesh
 
State
 
Crop residues 
generation
 
(Mt/year)
11
 
Crop residues burnt 
(Based on IPCC 
Coefficient) Mt
/year
11
 
Madhya 
Pradesh
 
33.18
 
3.74
 
 
Formula for calculation and compare the impact of crop 
residue burning of 
GHGs over 20 Year time horizon:
 
 
CO
2
:
 
Global warming potential
 
(GWP) x emissions
, 
The 20
-
year 
GWP times emission rate product for methane is
 
CH
4
:
 
Global warming potential
 
(GWP
20
) x emissions
 
a
nd, for N
2
O the 20
-
year impact will be
 
N
2
O
:
 
Global warming potential
 
(GWP
20
) x emissions
 
 
Result
s
 
and Discussion
 
Burning of crop residue releases the GHGs (
table
-
3) in the 
atmosphere. Emissions of GHGs was det
ermined on basis of 
product of emission factors (
table
-
1) and crop residues burnt 
(Based on IPCC Coefficient) (
table
-
2).The quantity of GHGs 
(CO
2
, CH
4
, N
2
O) emitted by crop residue burning from Madhya 
Pradesh itself is about 5676.46 kg/year. In which contr
ibution of 
CO
2
;
 
CH
4
 
and
 
N
2
O is about
 
5666.1 kg/year, CH
4 
is about
 
10.10 
kg/year and about 0.26 kg/year respectively. Critical analysis of 
t
able
-
3 indicates that, carbon dioxide is the most dominant 
among three gases.
 
 
Table
-
3
 
Emissions of green house gases
 
from crop residue burning
 
Name of the Gas
 
Emissions
 
Carbon dioxide (CO
2
), kg/year
 
5666.1
 
Methane (CH
4
), kg/year
 
10.10
 
Nitrous Oxide (N
2
O), kg/year
 
0.26
 
Grand Total
 
5676.46
 
 
Impact of GHGs emitted by crop residue burning over a 20 Year 
time horizon wa
s also compared. The comparison was done 
based on the products of emission rates and global warming 
potential (GWP) (
table
-
3 
and
 
4).
 
 
Table
-
4
 
Global Warming Potential
13
 
Name of the Gas
 
Global Warming Potential 
(GWP) 20 Year time horizon
 
Carbon dioxide (CO
2
)
 
1
 
Methane (CH
4
)
 
56
 
Nitrous Oxide (N
2
O)
 
280
 
 
Since the GWP of carbon dioxide (CO
2
) is constant i.e. 1 with 
respect to other gases, so its product with any other value will 
remain unchanged. The product of each GHGs was calculated 
(kg CO
2
) on the basis
 
of GWP and emissions rate of gases 
(
table
-
5). Analysis of 
table
-
5 shows that the warming impact 
over the next 20 years from today’s emissions of CH
4
 
would be 
only 10 times less impact than CO
2
; however its generation is 
about 560 times less than CO
2
.
  
Lik
ewise emissions of N
2
O are 
about 21792 times less than that of CO
2
 
emission, although it 
warming impact is about 81 times less than that of CO
2
 
emission.
 
 
Table
-
5
 
Impact of crop residue burning of GHGs over a 20 Year time horizon 
 
S.No.
 
GHGs
 
Emissions
 
(kg
/year)
 
Time Period 
(year)
 
GWP
 
Product  
(10
3
 
kg 
CO
2
)
 
Percent of 
Total
 
1
 
Carbon dioxide (CO
2
)
 
5666.1
 
20
 
1
 
5.67
 
89.92 %
 
2
 
Methane (CH
4
)
 
10.10
 
20
 
56
 
0.565
 
8.96 %
 
3
 
Nitrous Oxide (N
2
O)
 
0.26
 
20
 
280
 
0.07
 
1.11%
 
 
Research
 
Journal
 
of
 
Recent 
Sciences
 
______
_
_
______
_________________________
______________
_
________ 
ISSN
 
2277
-
2502
 
Vol.
 
4
(
I
YS
C
-
201
5
),
 
94
-
96
 
(201
5
)
 
 
Res. J. Recent. Sci.
 
 
 
International
 
Science
 
Congress
 
Association
 
 
           
96
 
Considering the overall impact of GHGs in the n
ext 20 year 
time horizon, it may be safely concluded that CO
2
 
would be 
dominant because CO
2
 
contribution is about 90%. Similarly, 
CH
4, 
N
2
O contributes about
 
9% and 1% respectively (
figure
-
2). 
These gases are responsible for the green house effect and 
ultim
ately increase the global temperature phenomenon called 
global warming. The increase in temperature of globe may also 
responsible for climate change.
 
 
 
Figuge
-
2
 
Relative influence of green house gases over 20 year time 
horizon based on the products of GWP
 
time one year’s 
emission
 
 
Conclusion
 
Results obtained from this study shows that crop residue 
burning increases the concentration of green house gases 
(carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide). These green house 
gases releases from burning of crop resid
ues, trapped the heat 
which is responsible for global warming and rise in temperature 
and ultimately may cause the climate change. Analysis of results 
shows that the warming impact over the next 20 years from 
current emissions of methane would be 10 times 
less impact 
than carbon dioxide; however its generation is about 560 times 
less than carbon dioxide
. 
Similarly emissions of nitrous oxide 
are about 21792 times less than that of carbon dioxide emission, 
although it warming impact is about 81 times less tha
n that of 
carbon dioxide emission. Considering the total impact of these 
three green house gases in the next 20 year time horizon, it may 
be concluded that carbon dioxide would be dominant because 
carbon dioxide contribute is approx 90% in warming due to c
rop 
residue burning. Similarly, methane
, 
nitrous oxide contributes 
approx. 9% and 1% respectively. On the basis of this study it 
may be concluded that burning practice of crop residue is not 
good because it will not only increase the global temperature but
 
it may be responsible for climate change also. 
 
 
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1.
 
http://mp.gov.in/en/major
-
crops
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-
mp (accessed on 
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, 
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<end>