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Campus de Excelencia Internacional

  UAL Crop Nitrogen and Irrigation Lab

Francisco M. Padilla

Associate Professor (2021-present)

Foto Broadly speaking, I am a crop researcher interested in plant-soil interactions in relation to the availability of key soil resources such as water and nutrients. My current research is applied in crop N management focused on the use of proximal optical sensors and other monitoring approaches to assess crop N status and improve crop N management. I am also interested in root dynamics in response to soil resources.

Overall, throughout my scientific career, I have used a wide range of techniques to measure plant/crop responses, root growth, soil and plant/crop water status, and nutrition in field studies and also in controlled conditions. I have used these techniques to work on natural ecosystems, re-forestation, extensive grassland systems and intensive horticultural crops.


Academic degrees and previous positions

  • 1997-2001: BSc in Environmental Sciences, University of Almeria, Spain

  • 2002-2003: MSc in Arid Zones Ecology, University of Almeria, Spain

  • 2003: Research fellow, Arid Zones Experimental Station (CSIC), Almeria, Spain

  • 2004-2007: PhD fellow, Arid Zones Experimental Station (CSIC), Almeria, Spain

  • 2008: Researcher R+D, Serfosur S.L., Almeria, Spain

  • 2009-2010: Researcher, Arid Zones Experimental Station (CSIC), Almeria, Spain

  • 2010-2012: Postdoctoral fellow, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

  • 2012-2015: Researcher, Juan de la Cierva fellow, University of Almeria, Spain
  • 2016-2020: Researcher, Ramón y Cajal fellow, University of Almeria, Spain

Bibliometrics

I have published 63 JCR articles, 52 within the first quartile (Q1) and 9 in the second quartile (Q2). I am first or senior author in 37 articles. The sum of citations of my publications is 3096, and the average number of citations per article is 48. My h Index is 32 (Source: WoS Core Collection, March 2024).


JCR Publications

64. Padilla, F.M., Karaca, C., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Gallardo, M., Rodríguez, A., Thompson, R.B. 2024. Cultivar effect on proximal optical sensor measurements and estimation of leaf N content in muskmelon and sweet pepper. European Journal of Agronomy 159: 127249.

63. Salinas, J., Padilla, F.M., Thompson, R.B., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., López-Martín, M., Gallardo, M.. 2023. Responses of yield, fruit quality and water relations of sweet pepper in Mediterranean greenhouses to increasing salinity. Agricultural Water Management 290: 108578.

62. Gallardo, M., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Padilla, F.M., Cedeño, J., Thompson, R.B. 2023. Prescriptive-corrective irrigation and macronutrient management in greenhouse soil-grown tomato using the VegSyst-DSS v2 decision support tool. Horticulturae 9(10): 1128.

61. Rodríguez, A., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Padilla, F.M., Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B. 2023. Effect of cultivar on measurements of nitrate concentration in petiole sap and leaf N content in greenhouse soil-grown cucumber, melon, and sweetpepper crops. Scientia Horticulturae 320: 112200.

60. Karaca, C., Thompson, R.B., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Gallardo, M., Padilla, F.M. 2023. Evaluation of absolute measurements and normalized indices of proximal optical sensors as estimators of yield in muskmelon and sweet pepper. Remote Sensing 15 (8): 2174.

59. Gallardo, M., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Giménez, C., Padilla, F.M., Thompson, R.B. 2023. Adaptation of VegSyst-DSS for macronutrient recommendations of fertigated, soil-grown, greenhouse vegetable crops. Agricultural Water Management 278: 107973.

58. Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Grasso, R., Gallardo, M., Padilla, F.M., de Souza, R., Rodríguez, A., Thompson, R.B. 2022. Sample temperature affects measurement of nitrate with a rapid analysis ion selective electrode system used for N management of vegetable crops. Agronomy 12(12): 3031.

57. Grasso, R., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., de Souza, R., Rodríguez, A., Thompson, R.B., Gallardo, M., Padilla, F.M. 2022. Nitrogen effect on fruit quality and yield of muskmelon and sweet pepper cultivars. Agronomy 12(9): 2230.

56. de Souza, R., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Thompson, R.B., Gallardo, M., Grasso, R., Padilla, F.M. 2022. Use of fluorescence indices as predictors of crop N status and yield for greenhouse sweet pepper crops. Precision Agriculture 23(1): 278-299.

55. de Souza, R., Buchhart, C., Heil, K., Plass, J., Padilla, F.M., Schmidhalter, U. 2021. Effect of time of day and sky conditions on different vegetation indices calculated from active and passive sensors and images taken from UAV. Remote Sensing 13(9): 1691.

54. Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Gallardo, M., Padilla, F.M., Rodríguez, A., Thompson, R.B. 2021. Use of a portable rapid analysis system to measure nitrate concentration of nutrient and soil solution, and plant sap in greenhouse vegetable production. Agronomy 11(5): 819.

53. Rodríguez, A., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Padilla, F.M., Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B. 2021. Petiole sap nitrate concentration to assess crop nitrogen status of greenhouse sweet pepper. Scientia Horticulturae 285: 110157.

52. Grasso, R., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B., Padilla, F.M. 2021. Tillage effects on soil properties, crop responses and rooting pattern of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum) grown in soil in greenhouse. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research 19(2): e0902.

51. Gallardo, M., Cuartero, J., Andújar de la Torre, L., Padilla, F.M., Segura, M.L., Thompson, R.B. 2021. Modelling nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium uptake, and uptake concentration, of grenhouse tomato with the VegSyst model. Scientia Horticulturae 279: 109862.

50.  Rodríguez, A., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Padilla, F.M., Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B. 2020. Soil monitoring methods to assess immediately available soil N for fertigated sweet pepper. Agronomy 10(12): 2000.

49. Grasso, R., de Souza, R., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B., Padilla, F.M. 2020. Root and crop responses of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum) to increasing N fertilization. Scientia Horticulturae 273: 109645.

48. Padilla, F.M., Farneselli, M., Gianquinto, G., Tei, F., Thompson, R.B. 2020. Monitoring nitrogen status of vegetable crops and soils for optimal nitrogen management. Agricultural Water Management 241: 106356.

47. Rodríguez, A., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Gallardo, M., de Souza, R., Padilla, F.M., Thompson, R.B. 2020. Sweet pepper and nitrogen supply in greenhouse production: Critical nitrogen curve, agronomic responses and risk of nitrogen loss. European Journal of Agronomy 117: 126046.

46. de Souza, R., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Thompson, R.B., Gallardo, M., Padilla, F.M. 2020. Assessing performance of vegetation indices to estimate nitrogen nutrition index in pepper. Remote Sensing 12(5): 763.

45. Su, Y., Chen, Y.,  Padilla, F.M., Zhang, Y., Huang, G. 2020. The influence of biocrusts on the spatial pattern of soil bacterial communities: A case study at landscape and slope scales. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 142: 107721.

44. de Souza, R., Grasso, R., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B., Padilla, F.M. 2020. Effect of cultivar on chlorophyll meter and canopy reflectance measurements in cucumber. Sensors 20(2): 509.

43. Gallardo, M., Padilla, F.M., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., de Souza, R., Rodríguez, A., Thompson, R.B.  2020. Crop response of greenhouse soil-grown cucumber to total available N in a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone. European Journal of Agronomy 114: 125993.

42. Padilla, F.M., Mommer, L., de Caluwe, H., Smit-Tiekstra, A., Visser, E.J.W., de Kroon, H. 2019. Effects of extreme rainfall events are independent of plant species richness in an experimental grassland community. Oecologia 191(1): 177-190.

41. de Souza, R., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Thompson, R.B., Gallardo, M., Grasso, R., Padilla, F.M. 2019. The use of chlorophyll meters to assess crop N status and derivation of sufficiency values for sweet pepper. Sensors 19(13): 2949.

40. Padilla, F.M., de Souza, R., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Grasso, R., Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B. 2019. Influence of time of day on measurement with chlorophyll meters and canopy reflectance sensors of different crop N status. Precision Agriculture 20(6): 1087-1106.

39. Giménez, C., Thompson, R.B., Prieto, M.H., Suárez-Rey, E., Padilla, F.M., Gallardo, M.,  2019. Adaptation of the VegSyst model to outdoor conditions for leafy vegetables and processing tomato. Agricultural Systems 171: 51-64.

38. Padilla, F.M., de Souza, R., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Gallardo, M., Giménez, C., Thompson, R.B. 2018. Different responses of various chlorophyll meters to increasing nitrogen supply in sweet pepper. Frontiers in Plant Science 9: 1752.

37. Padilla, F.M., Gallardo, M., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., de Souza, R., Thompson, R.B. 2018. Proximal optical sensors for nitrogen management of vegetable crops: A review. Sensors 18(7): 2083.

36. Padilla, F.M., Gallardo, M., Manzano-Agugliaro, F. 2018. Global trends in nitrate leaching research in the 1960-2017 period. Science of the Total Environment 643: 400-413.

35. Padilla, F.M., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Fernández, M.D., del Moral, F., Thompson, R.B., Gallardo, M. 2017. Responses of soil properties, crop yield and root growth to improved irrigation and N fertilization, soil tillage and compost addition in a pepper crop. Scientia Horticulturae 225: 422-430.

34. Padilla, F.M., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Gallardo, M., Giménez, C., Thompson, R.B. 2017. Derivation of sufficiency values of a chlorophyll meter to estimate cucumber nitrogen status and yield. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 141, 54-64.

33. Padilla, F.M., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B. 2017. Determination of sufficiency values of canopy reflectance indices for maximum growth and yield of cucumber. European Journal of Agronomy 84: 1-15.

32. Gallardo, M., Fernández, M.D., Giménez, C., Padilla, F.M., Thompson, R.B. 2016. Revised VegSyst model to calculate dry matter production, critical N uptake and ETc of several vegetable species grown in Mediterranean greenhouses. Agricultural Systems 146: 30-43.

31. Padilla, F.M., Peña-Fleitas, M.T., Gallado, M., Thompson, R.B. 2016. Proximal optical sensing of cucumber crop N status using chlorophyll fluorescence indices. European Journal of Agronomy 73: 83-97.

30. Peña-Fleitas, T., Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B., Farneselli, M., Padilla, F.M. 2015.  Assessing crop N status of fertigated vegetable crops using plant and soil monitoring techniques. Annals of Applied Biology 167: 387-405. (Open Access)

29. Mommer, L.§, Padilla, F.M.§, van Ruijven, J., Smit-Tiekstra, A., de Caluwe, H., Berendse, F., de Kroon, H. 2015. Diversity effects on root lenght production and loss in an experimental grassland community. Functional Ecology 29: 1560-1568. §These authors contributed equally to this manuscript.

28. Huang, G., Li, Y., Padilla, F.M. 2015. Ephemeral plants mediate responses of ecosystem carbon exchange to increased precipitation in a temperate desert. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 201: 141-152.

27. Padilla, F.M., Miranda, J.D., Armas, C., Pugnaire, F.I. 2015. Effects of changes in rainfall amount and pattern on root dynamics in an arid shrubland. Journal of Arid Environments 114: 49-53.

26. Soto, F., Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B., Peña-Fleitas, T., Padilla, F.M. 2015. Consideration of total available N supply reduces N fertilizer requirement and potential for nitrate leaching loss in tomato production. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 200: 62-70.

25. Padilla, F.M., Peña-Fleitas, T., Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B. 2015. Threshold values of canopy reflectance indices and chlorophyll meter readings for optimal nitrogen nutrition of tomato. Annals of Applied Biology 166: 271-285.

24. Padilla, F.M., Peña-Fleitas, T., Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B. 2014. Evaluation of optical sensor measurements of canopy reflectance and of leaf flavonols and chlorophyll contents to assess crop nitrogen status of muskmelon. European Journal of Agronomy 58: 39-52.

23. Gallardo, M., Thompson, R.B., Giménez, C., Padilla, F.M., Stöckle, C. 2014. Prototype decision support system based on the VegSyst simulation model to calculate crop N and water requirements for tomato under plastic cover.  Irrigation Science 32: 237-253.

22. Padilla, F.M., Mommer, L., de Caluwe, H., Smit-Tiekstra, A.E., Wagemaker, C.A.M., Ouborg, N.J., de Kroon, H. 2013. Early root overproduction not triggered by nutrients decisive for competitive success belowground. Plos One 8(1): e55805.

21. Padilla, F.M., Aarts, B.H.J., Roijendijk, Y.O.A., de Caluwe, H., Mommer, L., Visser, E.J.W., de Kroon, H. 2013. Root plasticity maintains growth of temperate grassland species under pulsed water supply. Plant and Soil 369: 377-386.

20. Padilla, F.M., Mattingly, W.B., Swedo, B.L., Clay, K., Reynolds, H.L. 2012. Negative plant-soil feedbacks dominate seedling competitive interactions of North American successional grassland species. Journal of Vegetation Science 23: 667-676.

19. Gang, H., Xue-yong, Z., Padilla, F.M., Ha-lin, Z. 2012. Fine root dynamics and longevity of Artemisia halodendron reflect plant growth strategy in two contrasting habitats. Journal of Arid Environments 79: 1-7.

18. de Kroon, H., Hendriks, M., van Ruijven, J., Ravenek, J., Padilla, F.M., Jongejans, E., Visser, E.J.W., Mommer, L. 2012. Root responses to nutrients and soil biota: drivers of species coexistence and ecosystem productivity. Journal of Ecology 100: 6-15.

17. Armas, C., Miranda, J.D., Padilla, F.M., Pugnaire, F.I. 2011. Special Issue: The Iberian Southeast (Preface). Journal of Arid Environments 75: 1241-1243.

16. Cortina, J., Amat, B., Castillo, V., Fuentes, D., Maestre, F.T., Padilla, F.M., Rojo, L. 2011. The restoration of vegetation cover in the semi-arid Iberian southeast. Journal of Arid Environments 75: 1377-1384.

15. Miranda, J.D., Armas, C., Padilla, F.M., Pugnaire, F.I. 2011. Climatic change and rainfall patterns: effects on semiarid plant communities of the Iberian Southeast. Journal of Arid Environments 75: 1302-1309

14. Prieto, I., Padilla, F.M., Armas, C., Pugnaire, F.I. 2011. The role of hydraulic lift on seedling establishment under a nurse plant species in a semi-arid environment. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 13: 181-187.

13. Martínez, L.B., Armas, C., Miranda, J.D., Padilla, F.M., Pugnaire, F.I. 2011. Shrubs influence arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities in a semi-arid environment. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 43: 682-689.

12. Padilla, F.M., Miranda, J.D., Ortega, R., Hervás, M., Sánchez, J., Pugnaire, F.I. 2011. Does shelter enhance early sapling survival in very dry environments? A test with eight Mediterranean species. Applied Vegetation Science 14: 31-39.

11. Padilla, F.M., Vidal, B., Sanchez, J., Pugnaire, F.I. 2010. Land use changes and carbon sequestration through the twentieth century in a Mediterranean mountain ecosystem: Implications for land management. Journal of Environmental Management 91: 2688-2695.

10. Miranda, J.D., Padilla, F.M., Martínez-Vilalta, J., Pugnaire, F.I. 2010. Woody species of a semiarid community are only moderately resistant to cavitation. Functional Plant Biology 37: 828-839.

9. Armas, C.§, Padilla, F.M.§, Pugnaire, F.I., Jackson, R.B. 2010. Hydraulic lift and tolerance to salinity of semiarid species: consequences for species interactions. Oecologia 162: 11-21. §These two authors contributed equally.

8. Miranda, J.D., Padilla, F.M., Pugnaire, F.I. 2009. Response of a Mediterranean semiarid community to changing patterns of water supply. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 255-266.

7. Padilla, F.M., Miranda, J.D., Jorquera, M.J., Pugnaire, F.I. 2009. Variability in amount and frequency of water supply affects roots but not growth of arid shrubs. Plant Ecology 204: 261-270.

6. Padilla, F.M., Ortega, R., Sánchez, J., Pugnaire, F.I. 2009. Rethinking species selection for restoration of arid shrublands. Basic and Applied Ecology 10: 640-647.

5. Padilla, F.M., Pugnaire, F.I. 2009. Species identity and water availability determine establishment success under the canopy of Retama sphaerocarpa shrubs in a dry environment. Restoration Ecology 17: 900-907.

4. Miranda, J.D., Padilla, F.M., Lázaro, R., Pugnaire, F.I. 2009. Do changes in rainfall patterns affect semiarid annual plant communities? Journal of Vegetation Science 20: 269-276.

3. Padilla, F.M., Miranda, J.D., Pugnaire, F.I. 2007. Early root growth plasticity in seedlings of three Mediterranean woody species. Plant and Soil 296: 103-113.

2. Padilla, F.M., Pugnaire, F.I. 2007. Rooting depth and soil moisture control Mediterranean woody seedling survival during drought. Functional Ecology 21: 489-495. (Article included in the Faculty of 1000 Biology database).

1. Padilla, F.M., Pugnaire, F.I. 2006. The role of nurse plant in the restoration of degraded environments (review). Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4: 196-202.


Contact

Department of Agronomy, University of Almería

Escuela Superior de Ingeniería (room 2.35), Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120 La Cañada, Almería, Spain

Tl. +34 950214741                  Fax +34 950015939 

f.padilla@ual.es


ORCID: 0000-0003-1021-0258 

Scopus Author Identifier: 57211624418

Web of Science ResearcherID: C-5204-2009