Techno-economic and environmental assessment of different rice- based cropping systems in an inceptisol of West Bengal, India Krishnendu Ray a, * , Sayed Sorful Hasan b , Rupak Goswami b a Sasya Shyamala Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute, Narendrapur, Kolkata 700103, West Bengal, India b Integrated Rural Development and Management Faculty Centre, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute, Narendrapur, Kolkata 700103, West Bengal, India article info Article history: Received 24 May 2018 Received in revised form 26 August 2018 Accepted 4 September 2018 Available online 7 September 2018 Keywords: Rice-based systems System productivity GWP Yield-scaled GHG emission abstract Sustainable intensification in cereal-based cropping systems has become an important issue in present- day agriculture. Hence, finding sustainable cropping systems in terms of techno-economic and envi- ronmental dimensions will be a major focus of scientific inquiry in near future. The present study aimed at estimating system productivity, economics, energetics and GHGs emission of 12 rice-based cropping systems in selected areas of the lower Gangetic plain of West Bengal, India. Information was collected regarding the management of these twelve cropping systems through questionnaire survey of 36 farms in nine sampled villages. Energy and cost incurred during different processes at the farm level and use of different animate and inanimate energy sources to execute those processes were taken into consider- ation during the primary data collection through questionnaire survey. Among the different systems studied, the rice-cabbage system recorded the highest system yield (~23 t/ha/yr) and benefit: cost ratio (4.44), followed by rice-garlic system and rice-cauliflower system. The highest specific energy was estimated in rice-wheat system (5.25 ± 0.035 MJ/kg); however, rice-garlic system showed highest energy productivity (981.29 ± 3.534 kg/GJ). Emission of both CO 2 and N 2 O was maximum from the rice-potato system, resulting in highest estimated global warming potential (GWP) i.e. about 21.0t CO 2eq /ha/yr from the same. Following the rice-potato system, rice-rice system and rice-wheat systems witnessed maximum global warming potential (GWP). Lowest GWP was observed in rice-garlic system. Yield-scaled GHG emission was highest in the rice-wheat system (~3.0 t CO 2eq /t system yield) and lowest in rice-garlic system (<0.5 t CO 2eq /t system yield). Sensitivity analysis performed through Monte-Carlo simulation was indicative of the manifested role of chemical fertilizer, followed by seed and irrigation towards increasing the yield-scaled GHG emission from different rice-based systems. Considering the higher system yield and benefit: cost ratio, highest energy productivity, and lowest GWP and yield-scaled GHG emission together, the rice-garlic system and rice-cabbage system can be good practices for ensuring sustainable resource utilization in the study region. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction After China, India is the second largest rice producing country in the World during 2017-18. The country shares about 26.9% and 21.4% of the global rice area and production, respectively (FAOSTAT, 2018). Apart from achieving such self-sufficiency in rice area and production, the diversification and intensification of rice-based cropping systems in India has also increased substantially in recent years (Kumar et al., 2018). However, such progress towards intensification and diversification of the present rice-based systems and expansion of cultivation to uncultivated fallow lands stipulated the adoption of high yielding varieties, higher amount of chemical fertilizers and more pumping of the ground water for assuring irrigation (Yadav et al., 2017). Examination of the relative merits and demerits of the available options for intensification and diversification in rice-based cropping systems is, thus, of immense practical use. However, the yardsticks of such assessment are often found to be contested and need to be more holistic in nature that reflects the system performance of farming (such as energetics) and its negative externalities (such as GHGs emission). Economic analysis has largely been employed to adjudge the * Corresponding author. E-mail address: krishnenduray.bckv@gmail.com (K. Ray). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Cleaner Production journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.09.037 0959-6526/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Journal of Cleaner Production 205 (2018) 350e363