Gustavo A. Slafer (PhD, University of Melbourne) is ICREA Research Professor at the University of Lleida (Catalonia, Spain). He is also (i) Honorary Professor of the Universities of Nottingham (UK) and Buenos Aires (Argentina); (ii) Editor (with different titles, always in charge of the review process, making the final decision on acceptance/rejection) of Food Energy Security (UK), Scientific Reports (UK), Frontiers in Plant Science (Switzerland), and The Crop Journal (China); (iii) Editorial Board member of other JCR-journals; and (iv) member of Scientific Advisory Council of GADEA Foundation (Spain). He has co-edited 7 scientific books, by publishers in USA and UK, and published more than 40 chapters in international books and more than 220 papers in JCR-journals. His h-index at Dec. 2024 was 70 using WoS-CoreCollection (h-index = 95 in google scholar). He has been invited several times to deliver talks in international events. He received the “Narcís Monturiol Award” in 2024
Research interests
My research is focused on Crop Physiology: a relatively novel branch of science linking more fundamental physiological knowledge with realistic crop-breeding and crop-management developments through a genuine translational research approach. In this context, I study the mechanisms underlying the responses of field crops to environmental and genetic factors at the crop level of organisation. The environmental factors include management practices (e.g. irrigation or fertilization) and less manageable environmental factors (e.g. radiation, photoperiod and temperature). Genetic factors include from diverse genotypes through specific populations to particular genes (NILs). I study in this context the physiology of yield; carbon and nitrogen relationships and crop developmental processes with the aim of identifying alternatives to traditional farming and breeding practises to enhance the efficiency of resource use.
Selected publications
- Carrera CS, Savin R, Slafer GA 2024, 'Critical period for yield determination across grain crops', Trends in plant science, 29 - 3 - 329 - 342 - .
- Kim J, Savin R & Slafer GA 2024, 'Quantifying pre- and post-anthesis heat waves on grain number and grain weight of contrasting wheat cultivars', Field crops research, 307 - 109264.
- Tamagno S, Carrera CS, Marchese S, Savin R & Slafer GA 2024, 'Sterility of basal spikelets in wheat: predetermined fate or a matter of resources?', Journal of experimental botany, 75-22-7160-7173.
- Bicego B, Savin R, Girousse C, Allard V & Slafer GA 2024, 'Plasticity of grain number and its components in contrasting wheat cultivars', Field crops research, 319 -109653.
- Bicego B, Savin R, Girousse C, Allard V & Slafer GA 2024, 'Tillering and floret development dynamics in wheat cultivars of contrasting spike fertility plasticity', Field crops research, 319 -109654.
Selected research activities
Invited talks:
- Further improving spike fertility traits in wheat to keep increasing yield potential. International Conference on Plant Biology and Biotechnology (ICPBB 2024). Almaty, Kazakhstan, 3-6 June 2024.
- Barley yield physiology. Effects of PPD-H1 alleles beyond phenology and differences between 6- and 2-row barleys. Australian Barley Technical Symposium. Adelaide, Australia, 12-15 August 2024.
- Wheat yield as affected by high temperature. Interference with mechanisms determining wheat yield. Rank Symposium on Net Zero Agriculture. Lake District, UK 15-18 April 2024.
Awards:
Narcís Monturiol Medal 2024 of the Government of Catalonia to honour outstanding contribution to the development of science and technology.