## 3 Results and Discussion
### LCA of Maize Production Induced by Laser versus Conventional Maize Production
The contaminants are subsequently washed into the soil by rain, polluting the surface and drinking waters. Figure 4: Contribution of environmental impacts on human toxicity (HT), freshwater ecotoxicity (FE), and marine ecotoxicity (ME) using two midpoint methods: CML and ReCiPe. Figure 5: Impact of major heavy metal substances on ecotoxicity potential under the two midpoint methods: CML and ReCiPe. Note that both methods calculated the effects of toxicity on humans for various materials, especially the metals released into the environment through waste sludge and wastewater. [PERSON] [36] developed the fate factors (FF) to enable the approximation of N's surface water deposition due to airborne NOx and NH\({}_{3}\) emissions. The role of FF is to indicate the amount of emitted NOx or NH\({}_{3}\) in various European countries that migrate to marine ecosystems. The basis for the calculation was the modified Regional Air Pollution Information and Simulation (RAINS) model, which was initially developed for an integrated evaluation of acidification, photochemical ozone creation, and terrestrial eutrophication in Europe [37]. Nitrate (NO\({}_{3}\)) is the primary pathway of N leaching from the soil into aquatic ecosystems. No relationship exists between the soil N-input (from fertilizers) and the nitrate levels of the surface and groundwater. Groundwater nitrate losses through leaching are heavily reliant on agricultural practices and site-specific climate and soil conditions. There were strong correlations between the two methods for human toxicity at different magnitudes. The most significant effect for this impact category related to the land use life cycle, which showed a decline from being the third most impacting category with the CML 2000 to the sixth most impacted according to the ReCiPe. The difference between the two approaches may be due to the nature of this case. The primary contributing substance differed for the two analysis methods, as shown in Figure 4. Figure 5 shows the contribution analysis for the emissions from other substances; it confirms that the differences in the applied characterization factors prompted such differences in the results. For CML 2000, the highest contributors to emissions were benzene, nickel, and chromium; for the ReCiPe method, zinc was predominant. Figure 5 shows that the only consistency between the methodologies is the wide variations in the primary contributing substances. Such a category was evaluated with each LCIA method using a different approach; this may cause inconsistent results. Based on the results, the most significant contributor to potential environmental impacts was mineral fertilization; the type of N fertilizers utilized was responsible for potential eutrophication and acidification. The literature suggested that 8% of N in most fertilizers can undergo a loss through volatilization, thereby forming ammonia [38]. This high rate of ammonia emissions contributes primarily to these impact categories. Therefore, when planning to improve fertilizer management processes, the principal target should be replacing liquid nitrogen fertilizers with those low in-field N emissions. This finding contradicts the outcome of a study by [39], in which mineral fertilizers were found to contribute substantially to maize production's environmental performance. There are several sources of impacts on human and ecological toxicity from farming activities; these include the emission or discharge of pollutants, pesticides, and heavy metals from chemical fertilizers. Heavy metals and pesticides are the primary contributors because they typically relate to more toxic and longer-lasting substances. The production of phosphate fertilizers is also important because it relates to eutrophication; phosphates contribute to over 30% of the eutrophication indicator. The observed differences in the outcome of this indicator could not be due primarily to the deployed technology.