Laila Puntel
Assistant Professor
Area of Expertise: Soil and Water Sciences
B.S., Agriculture Engineering, National University of Mar del Plata, Balcarce, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2010
M.S., Crop Production and Crop Physiology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA, 2012
Ph.D., Crop Production and Crop Physiology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA, 2018
Area of Focus
Soil Fertility and Precision Ag
Other Areas of Focus
- Site-specific crop management
- Cropping systems and simulation models
- Integrated digital agriculture technologies
- Crop ecophysiology
Major Project Activities
Project SENSE
Research Interests
- Site-specific crop management
- Understanding of site-specific variability in crop yield response to inputs via modeling of underlying soil and crop dynamics
- Long-term nutrient management effects on soil and crop dynamics, productivity, profitability, and environmental sustainability
- Yield forecasting
- Digital agriculture technology and data-driven crop recommendation systems
- Nutrient management for yield and quality – in particular wheat and barley
Extension Interests
- Precision ag strategies for crop management
- On farm research
- New agriculture technologies training
- Data interpretation and use
Teaching Interests
- Site-specific crop management
- Mechanisms underlying variability of crop yield response to inputs (e.g. nitrogen)
- Digital ag technology
- Data stewardship and open source software
- Entrepreneurship opportunities in agriculture fields
Courses Taught
- Site-Specific Crop Management, PLAS/MSYM/AGEN 431 (fall semesters)
- Spatial Variability in Soils, AGRO 831 (distance course, spring semesters, even-numbered years)
Publications
Google Scholar publication list
- Gaso Melgar, Deborah and de Wit, Allard and de Bruin, Sytze and Puntel, Laila and Berger, Andres and Kooistra, Lammert, 2023. Efficiency of Assimilating Leaf Area Index into a Soybean Model to Assess Within-Field Yield Variability. European Journal of Agronomy. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4060872
- Puntel Laila A., Bolfe, E., Melchiori, R.J.M., Ortega, R., Tiscornia, G., Roel, A., Scaramuzza, F, Best, S., Berger, A.G., Hansel, D.S.S., Palacios, D. D., Balboa, G., 2022. How Digital is Agriculture in South America? Adoption and Limitations. Crop & Pasture Science. https://doi.org/10.1071/CP21759
- Michael G. Carlson, Roch E. Gaussoin, Laila A. Puntel. 2022. Review of precision turfgrass management research and adoption on golf courses. Agronomy Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/cft2.20183
- Thompson Laura, Puntel A. Laila. 2020.Transforming UAV and Multispectral Sensor into a Practical Decision Support System for Precision Nitrogen Management in Corn. Remote Sensing 12(10), 1597