Miguel Castillo
Bio
Dr. Castillo leads the Forage and Grassland Program at North Carolina State University. He also contributes to the discipline as a Technical Editor for Crop Science. His program maintains an active international presence, with work spanning tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions. Dr. Castillo is fluent in Spanish and English and has intermediate proficiency in Portuguese.
His research focuses on enhancing ecosystem services in agricultural and pasture-based livestock systems, including agroforestry and silvopastures. The program emphasizes developing knowledge and technologies that promote efficient resource use and system resilience. Key areas include alternative nutrient sources (e.g., biosolids, poultry litter, swine effluent), forage and grazing management, use of legumes, integrated crop–livestock systems, and the application of near-infrared spectroscopy as a decision-support tool.
Originally from Loja, Ecuador, Dr. Castillo earned a B.S. in Plant and Animal Sciences from Zamorano University (Honduras), and both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Agronomy from the University of Florida. He also holds an MBA from North Carolina State University. Dr. Castillo joined the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at NC State in 2013.
Education:
M.B.A., North Carolina State University (2017)
Ph.D., Agronomy, University of Florida (2013)
M.S., Agronomy, University of Florida (2009)
B.S., Plant and Animal Sciences, Zamorano University (2006)
Publications
- Late‐summer nitrogen fertilization rate effects on herbage mass, nutritive value, and fertilizer recovery efficiency of stockpiled bermudagrass , Crop Science (2026)
- Performance evaluation of two handheld NIR spectrometers to determine forage nutritive value using custom calibrations , Crop Forage & Turfgrass Management (2025)
- Reporting forage nutritive value using near‐infrared reflectance spectroscopy , Crop Science (2025)
- Risk of weed seed and seedling emergence from poultry litter , Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment (2024)
- 114 Evaluation of Assertions from Educational, Outreach and Engagement Programs in Pasture-Based Livestock Systems , Journal of Animal Science (2023)
- Analysis of alkaloids and reducing sugars in processed and unprocessed tobacco leaves using a handheld near infrared spectrometer , Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (2023)
- Development of Silvopastoral Systems in the Peruvian Amazon , Silvopastoral systems of Meso America and Northern South America (2023)
- ‘Newell’ bermudagrass: A public release from the USDA Cynodon collection , Journal of Plant Registrations (2023)
- A review of silvopastoral systems in the Peruvian Amazon region , Tropical Grasslands-Forrajes Tropicales (2022)
- Clover frost‐seeding rate effects on productivity and nutritive value of tall fescue pastures during the year of establishment , Crop Science (2022)