Biography and education
Dr. Samira Islas-Valdez serves as a Postdoctoral Scholar and Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Sciences at Texas State University. Before her current role, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Colorado State University, where her research focused on isolating phosphate- and zinc-solubilizing microbes and evaluating synthetic root exudates to improve phosphorus solubilization in phosphorus-deficient soils. Dr. Islas-Valdez earned her PhD in Agricultural Chemistry from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). During her doctoral studies, she employed spectroscopic and fractionation techniques to characterize micronutrient complexes used as fertilizers to correct iron and manganese deficiencies in crops grown in hydroponic systems and calcareous soils.
Research Interests
Featured scholarly/creative works
- Islas Valdez, S., Sproull, R. K., Sumners, T., & Wagner, N. C. (2025). Effect of Organic Amendments and Biostimulants on Zucchini Yield and Fruit Quality Under Alkaline Conditions. Agriculture, 15(19), 2078. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15192078
- Islas Valdez, S., Afkairin, A., Rovner, B., & Vivanco, J. M. (2024). Isolation of Diverse Phosphate- and Zinc-Solubilizing Microorganisms from Different Environments. Applied Microbiology, 4(3), 1042–1056. https://doi.org/10.3390/applmicrobiol4030071
- Islas Valdez, S., López‐Rayo, S., & Lucena, J. J. (2021). Implications of the Mn:ligand ratio for Mn uptake by <scp>Glycine max</scp> L. plants fertilized with heptagluconate and gluconate complexes. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 101(11), 4662–4671. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.11110
- Islas Valdez, S., López‐Rayo, S., Arcos, J., Menéndez, N., & Lucena, J. J. (2020). Effect of Fe:ligand ratios on hydroponic conditions and calcareous soil in Solanum lycopersicum L. and Glycine max L. fertilized with heptagluconate and gluconate. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 100(3), 1106–1117. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.10119
- Islas Valdez, S., López-Rayo, S., Hristov-Emilov, H., Hernández-Apaolaza, L., & Lucena, J. J. (2020). Assessing metal–lignosulfonates as fertilizers using gel filtration chromatography and high-performance size exclusion chromatography. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 142, 163–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2019.09.088
Featured service activities
- Reviewer / Referee
Frontiers in Microbiology
- Reviewer / Referee
Applied Soil Ecology
- Reviewer / Referee
Agronomy Journal
- Reviewer / Referee
Plants