Ignacio Antonio Ciampitti

• Ph.D. Crop Science
• Professor at Kansas State University

Mungbean, a protein- and nutrient-rich legume widely grown in Asian countries, is now expanding to other regions. With increasing global demand for nutritious foods and more sustainable agricultural practices, mungbean represents a valuable opportunity to diversify food systems and improve global nutrition. However, management practices to optimize...

Rising feed and fertilizer costs, climatic uncertainties, and the summer slump in forage production are key challenges for livestock farmers in the Midwest region of the United States. Therefore, this study evaluated the dry matter yield (DMY), forage nutritive value (FNV), water use efficiency (WUE), and economic viability of forage soybean ( Glyc...

The increasing challenges of high-temperature (heat stress) significantly impact plant growth and crop yield, including mung bean [(Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek]. Simultaneously, seed quality, encompassing various seed nutrition components, is adversely affected by heat stress. To examine the impact of heat stress, we investigated the seed nutriti...

The undesirable consequences of climate change on crop yields threaten the resiliency of farmers' livelihoods in climate‐vulnerable regions. Assessing the resilience of agrifood systems to climate and non‐climate hazards helps identify solutions for ensuring the sustainability of farming households. The literature review indicates that a knowledge...

Building open databases is critical to creating effective, locally-informed decision support systems in agriculture. In West Africa, particularly in Senegal, the open agricultural data movement is growing but still requires further investment. This review aimed to create an open database by integrating existing data on yield response to nutrient ap...

In subtropical viticulture, grapevines are cultivated in soils with low phosphorus (P) availability, requiring P fertilization to enhance their productivity. However, the relationship between grapevine yield and grape quality remains a matter of discussion. This study aimed to (i) investigate the effect of different rates of P application on grapev...

Previous literature documented an imbalance for sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] between source (leaves) and sink (grains), favoring the source. Therefore, reducing leaf number, anticipating maturity, and placing the dry‐down with more favorable environment might be advantageous for producers to fit another crop in the rotation. The aims of th...

The increasing frequency of heat stress events due to climate change disrupts all stages of plant growth, significantly reducing yields, especially in crops like mung bean (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek). Mung beans are vital grain legumes in Southeast Asian countries and are crucial for food security. Thus, it is essential to understand the physio...

CONTEXT OR PROBLEM Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are a key crop in the global diet and nitrogen (N) fertilization is a critical management factor. Therefore, it is essential to develop a critical N dilution curve (CNDC) for common bean in order to improve N fertilization management. OBJECTIVE OR RESEARCH QUESTION The aims of this study wer...

Increasing wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield and grain protein concentration (GPC) without excessive nitrogen (N) inputs requires understanding the genotypic variations in N accumulation, partitioning, and utilization strategies. This study evaluated whether high protein genotypes exhibit increased N accumulation (herein also expressed as N nutrit...

A common problem for interdisciplinary sustainability research is that scientists trained in different disciplines are often not rowing their boat effectively in the same direction. Sustainability tools can aid the implementation of this team-melding process. Here, our purpose is to illustrate our Multi-step Integrated graphical and structured disc...

Modern breeding programs aim to increase the effective use of nitrogen (N) in cereal grain crops such as wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) to reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture. The effective use of nitrogen may be assessed by measuring N utilization efficiency (NUtE, grain yield to N uptake ratio, both determined at harvest) or by measu...

Maize (Zea mays L.) production in Argentina changed markedly during the last decade due to the widespread adoption of late sowing dates, expanding its productive area, and diversifying crop end‐uses. This study was conducted to assess how the sowing date and nitrogen (N) availability affect grain yield, its physiological determinants (biomass and i...

CONTEXT Soybeans (Glycine max L.) are a crucial crop for global food security, and the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil, plays a significant role. However, climate instability, particularly water stress (WS), is a major concern in this region, causing large interannual yield variability. OBJECTIVE This study aims to address this issue using...

Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.] is an essential subsistence cereal for food security in dryland farming systems of the semiarid tropics (e.g., in sub‐Saharan Africa) and has improved tolerance to drought, heat, and salinity stress compared to other domesticated cereals. Assessing the variation on phenology is critical toward devising e...

Equidistant plant arrangements have shown positive impacts, in the United States over the last century, on soybean (Glycine max L.) yield and seed quality by reducing intraspecific plant competition and enhancing early canopy cover. This study aims to (i) assess the effects of equidistant versus non‐equidistant plant arrangements on soybean yield a...

Estimating pasture biomass has emerged as a promising avenue to assist farmers in identifying the best cutting times for maximizing biomass yield using satellite data. This study aims to develop an innovative framework integrating field and satellite data to estimate aboveground biomass in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) at farm scale. For this purpos...

High-throughput phenotyping is the bottleneck for advancing field trait characterization and yield improvement in major field crops. Specifically for sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), rapid plant-level yield estimation is highly dependent on characterizing the number of grains within a panicle. In this context, the integration of computer vision and ar...

Accurate identification of crop phenology timing is crucial for agriculture. While remote sensing tracks vegetation changes, linking these to ground-measured crop growth stages remains challenging. Existing methods offer broad overviews but fail to capture detailed phenological changes, which can be partially related to the temporal resolution of t...

Abstract Proper potassium (K) nutrition is a key management factor to attain both high tuber yields and quality in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) crop. Therefore, developing diagnostic tools to assess crop K status via utilization of a critical K dilution curve (Kcr = aW-b) and calculation of the K nutrition index (KNI) is essential to advance K fe...

Progress in soybean (Glycine max L.) breeding has led to a reduction in optimal seeding rates due to enhanced branching capacity over time. However, less is known about the changes in canopy architecture between old and modern soybean genotypes at varying row spacing and their impact on yield and seed quality through the main stem and branches. The...

Sorghum aphid, Melanaphis sorghi (Theobald) have become a major economic pest in sorghum causing 70% yield loss without timely insecticide applications. The overarching goal is to develop a monitoring system for sorghum aphids using remote sensing technologies to detect changes in plant-aphid density interactions, thereby reducing scouting time. We...

Enhancing rapid phenotyping for key plant traits, such as biomass and nitrogen content, is critical for effectively monitoring crop growth and maximizing yield. Studies have explored the relationship between vegetation indices (VIs) and plant traits using drone imagery. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding data availability, accessib...

The Midwestern region of the United States has been experiencing periodic forage shortages due to frequent droughts, a growing livestock population, and reliance on traditional farming practices. This study evaluated the dry matter yield (DMY), forage nutritive value, water use efficiency (WUE), and economic viability of forage soybean [Glycine max...

The determination of changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) content under different cropping systems is necessary for policy development oriented towards soil conservation, C sequestration, and future C credit markets. The aim of this study was to generate an open SOC dataset resulting from a systematic literature search related to the agricultural s...

The effect of environmental factors on the proportion of the nitrogen (N) derived from the atmosphere (Ndfa) in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merril] have been traditionally approached individually given their intrinsic complexity. Alternatively, a more in-depth investigation of such complex interactions can be pursued by delimiting environments where...

On‐farm research has emerged in recent years as a unique approach to involve farmers and other agricultural stakeholders as active participants in knowledge development and as an effective method of technology and innovation transfer across farms. This study assessed the perspective and knowledge of US farmers regarding on‐farm research via the imp...

Foundational concepts for characterization of nitrogen (N) nutrition in field crops are necessary to define true N gains in crops under different genotype-environment-management (GxExM) scenarios. A study (Ciampitti and Lemaire, 2022) emphasized the requirement to redefine N use (herein termed as effective use of N term) and provided new insights i...

Context: In the temperate-humid region of Argentina, nitrogen (N) fertilisers in maize (Zea mays L.) are mainly applied around sowing, whereas N-splitting is rare and occurs during early vegetative stages. Splitting and late N fertilisation, even up to silking (R 1), effects on yield have been recently studied. However, to the extent of our knowled...

Sorghum aphids, Melanaphis sorghi (Theobald) became a major economic concern in sorghum causing 70% yield loss without timely insecticide applications. The overarching goal is to develop a monitoring system for sorghum aphids using remote sensing technologies to detect changes in plant-aphid density interactions. We studied the effect of aphid dens...

Low productivity, yield stagnation, and reduction of water use, altogether with increased susceptibility to climate variability represent a challenge for agricultural producers in the United States (US) central Great Plains. In this context, a more holistic assessment of the cropping systems should be considered as a critical aspect for developing...

In Senegal, agriculture is an important sector underpinning the socioeconomic fabric of the populace. Notably, the agricultural production in this region exhibits heightened sensitivity to climatic perturbations, particularly droughts and heat waves. This study aims to determine the resilience of different agronomic interventions for farmers practi...

Critical management interventions to target the yield potential for each environment are key to food security, increasing the resilience of current agricultural systems in Senegal. Cereal production is highly dependent on pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) rainfed systems as one of the major field crops for smallholders. This study aims to (i) qu...

Background The use of hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth.) as cover crop is increasing worldwide. Hairy vetch can contribute as a nitrogen (N) source with potential to impact subsequent high N demanding cereals such as maize (Zea mays L.). Contrasting literature results emphasize the need for a global synthesis analysis to quantify changes in maize yi...

Introduction The lack of a holistic view of agriculture’s social and economic aspects emerges as a limiting factor in policy implementations of sustainable intensification. The aim of this study was to (i) synthesize data from the five domains of sustainable agriculture intensification framework focusing on Senegal as a case study, (ii) harmonize a...

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was evaluated as a rapid and non-destructive method for determining the concentration of water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) in stem fractions for winter canola (Brassica napus L.), maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) crops. For each crop at different growth stages, stem WSC concentration was...

This study aimed to (i) investigate the soybean phosphorus (P) uptake linked to changes in soil P fractions, (ii) evaluate the influence of soil P level and soil texture on changes in the forms of P in soybean organs, and (iii) explore the contents of P in the plant organs as potential indicators of changes in soil P fractions. Soybean plants were...

This study aimed to assess Nitrogen Nutrition Index (NNI) predicted from optical and C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (C-SAR) satellite data and available soil N (Nav) at different vegetative growth stages for corn crops.

Soybean [Glycine max L. (Merr.)] seed composition is receiving increased attention among farmers, agronomists, and commodity traders. Increasing the ability to predict seed quality traits such as protein and oil at the field level before harvest will provide a competitive ability to segregate quality and create an economic advantage to position the...

Nitrogen (N) nutrition index (NNI) is a reliable indicator of plant N status for field crops, but its determination is both labor- and cost-intensive. The utilization of remote sensing approaches for monitoring N, mainly in relevant crops such as of corn (Zea mays L.), will be critical for enhancing effective use of this nutrient. Therefore, the ai...

Introduction While globally appreciated for reliable, intensification-friendly phenotypes, modern corn (Zea mays L.) genotypes retain crop plasticity potential. For example, weather and heterogeneous field conditions can overcome phenotype uniformity and facilitate tiller expression. Such plasticity may be of interest in restrictive or otherwise va...

Crop yield results from the complex interaction between genotype, management, and environment. While farmers have control over what genotype to plant, and how to manage it, their decisions are often sub-optimal due to climate variability. Sub-seasonal climate predictions embrace the great potential to improve risk analysis and decision-making. Howe...

Predicting the optimal harvest date after crop physiological maturity is highly relevant for maize (Zea mays L.). While harvesting before achieving the commercial kernel moisture implies additional costs of grain drying, a delayed harvest of maize crops is linked to grain yield and quality losses. The main objective of this work was to identify wea...

Detecting the field maturity moment for maize (Zea mays L.) crop represents a relevant point to estimate its optimal harvest time. Knowing the optimal harvest time (defined by grain moisture content) at the end of the crop season is a major concern for maize farmers, as it could lead to substantial economic losses if not harvested on time. For this...

Crop growth models can be useful tools to evaluate potential scenarios, yet the limited field data is an obstacle for providing significant insights at the local level. This certainly applies to several regions in Africa, where crop models built regional scenarios based on low resolution field data, leading to unsupported agricultural interventions...

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) is a staple food crop for rural households in Senegal. However, yields remain low due to reduced precipitation and low adoption of agricultural technologies. This study aims to (i) calibrate and evaluate the performance of the Agricultural-Production-System-sIMulator (APSIM)-Millet model to simulate crop phenolo...

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is an important staple food for human consumption and a source of animal feed in the semiarid regions of the world. Sustained positive rates of crop improvement are necessary to supply food and feed to a growing population. However, land allocated to sorghum and its inclusion in production systems has been in c...

The soiltestcorr R package is an open-source software designed to enable accessible and reproducible computation of correlation analyses between crop yield response to fertilization and soil test values. The package compiles a series of functions for analyzing soil test correlation data: (i) Cate & Nelson data partitioning procedure (graphical and...

Corn (Zea mays L.) nitrogen (N) management requires monitoring plant N concentration (Nc) with remote sensing tools to improve N use, increasing both profitability and sustainability. This work aims to predict the corn Nc during the growing cycle from Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 (C-SAR) sensor data fusion. Eleven experiments using five fertilizer N r...

In South Brazil, grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.) have been grown in acid sandy soils, increasing phosphorus (P) need for fertilization. However, current fertilizer guidelines for growers are based on Vitis labrusca grown in clay soils. Therefore, there is a clear need to provide new recommendations on fertilization in vineyards. This study aimed to:...

Agricultural scientists are pursuing sustainable intensification strategies to increase global food availability, but integration from research to impact at the local-level requires knowledge of demographic and human-environment to enhance the adaptive capacity of farmers cultivating <10 ha. Enhancing close collaboration among transdisciplinary tea...

Understanding physiological changes in response to long‐term selection for yield can inform breeding decisions and hasten genetic gain. The objective of this study was to characterize changes over time in yield‐relevant physiological traits for hybrids with different years of release for grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench). Field trials were...

Introduction Crop plasticity is fundamental to sustainability discussions in production agriculture. Modern corn (Zea mays L.) genetics can compensate yield determinants to a small degree, but plasticity mechanisms have been masked by breeder selection and plant density management preferences. While tillers are a well-known source of plasticity in...

Optimizing planting date by maturity group (PD × MG) is critical to increase productivity and reduce production risks. Understanding the effect of management, not only under current, but also future weather conditions, is even more relevant for developing effective mitigation strategies. This paper provides an analysis of the optimum combinations o...

Climate change, driven by rising greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere, poses serious and wide-ranging threats to human societies and natural ecosystems all over the world. Agriculture and forestry account for roughly one-third of global emissions, including 9 to 14% of GHGs from crop and livestock activities. Due to increasing dema...

Teff, maize, wheat, sorghum, and barley are the five major food crops in Ethiopia. This chapter provides a summary of the work investigating the effect of climate change and potential adaptation strategies to mitigate their effects for the abovementioned major field crops in Ethiopia. Climate change studies were carried out using an in silico appro...

Global climate change has several implications on food security. The task of feeding the growing human population with limited resources is a challenging mission. With modern climate-resilient cultivars and optimized management practices, agronomists are trying to provide solutions to optimize the demand and supply balance in the food system. Crop...

CONTEXT Crop intensification is a key aspect for achieving global food security and exploring options for optimizing land use and environmental resources. Following this rationale, a maize (Zea mays L.) – soybean (Glycine max L.) double cropping was tested to intensify current agricultural systems in the Southern region of the United States (US)....

Crop monitoring is a key process for agricultural management and policy making linked to food security and sustainability. The spatio-temporal assessment of crop-specific management is essential for mapping crop rotation at field-scale. The aims of this study were to generate a satellite-based data fusion approach for mapping crop rotation at field...