Rossi's Hort Crop Physiology Lab

This Memorial Day, we honor the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. As Aggies, we remember the values of selfless service, leadership, and dedication exemplified by those who gave everything for our freedom.

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT #3: Nanoplastics and PFAS (“forever chemicals”) are emerging contaminants increasingly found in irrigation water sources. But how do they affect plants? Our lab is studying how these pollutants may impact the physiology, growth, and productivity of pecan and grape plants - two major woody crops for Texas. Through greenhouse and field studies in College Station, El Paso, and Lubbock, we are tracking contaminant uptake and movement within plants. This Texas Water Resources Institute-funded project is one of the first studies of its kind in woody perennial crops and brings together the Texas A&M University Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, the Zachry Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M, and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station. The studies are led by Dr. Khalid Hussain, postdoctoral researcher in our program, in collaboration with Kimberly Cervantes, Patrick O’Brien, and Xingmao Ma.
With one more year to go, we will also evaluate biochar as a remediation strategy to reduce contaminant impacts in specialty crop systems.

Research Spotlight #2 🍇 Texas vineyards often struggle with heavy “gumbo” black clay soils that can restrict root growth, soil structure, and overall vine performance. In our lab at Texas A&M University Department of Horticultural Sciences, we are testing biochar as a soil amendment in 'Tempranillo' and 'Blanc du Bois' to evaluate its effects on soil health, root development, and vine physiology. This undergraduate research project is led by Ray Gonzalez, a junior in Horticulture who has been working in my lab over the past year. This work is also a collaboration with our Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Viticulture Program Specialist Michael Cook and colleagues across the department. Ray has been gaining hands-on experience in plant physiology, soil science, and vineyard sustainability research while helping tackle challenges important to Texas grape growers. Excited to keep building momentum with this work 🍇

Nice day at the McLennan County - Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Waco, TX for the 9th Annual Central Texas Vines and Wines Field Day! 🍇🍷It was great to reconnect with colleagues from across the state. High Plains, Texoma, Gulf Coast, and Main Campus were all well represented. Also nice to officially introduce my research program and get some good questions and discussions going. And of course, the wine tasting was great too! Cheers!

Besides having fun in the classroom, we have also been busy setting up several research projects. This is the start of a series highlighting some of the research happening in our program and the students involved. Today’s spotlight focuses on using multispectral cameras and low-field MRI for high-throughput phenotyping of grape varieties under salinity stress. This project is led by my student Andrew McFarland, M.S. student in the Texas A&M University Department of Horticultural Sciences, who also works at the Texas A&M AgriLife Plant Phenotyping Facility. A robotic arm takes images of the above ground while the MRI scans the roots below ground: all non-destructive. Salinity in irrigation water and soils is a concern for grape production, and we are screening varieties for traits associated with tolerance in collaboration with breeders and computer engineers helping finding long-term solutions.

Fantastic time at the 4th Annual North Texas Grape and Wine Field Day organized by Michael Cook, Texas A&M University Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Grayson College! Great visit to the T.V. Munson Viticulture Enology Center with lots of excitement around the T.V. Munson Memorial Vineyard, new phenotyping tech, and fresh ideas for collaboration. Awesome energy from growers and researchers and some excellent wines from the Texoma AVA. Y’all remember to drink local! 🍇🍷

Excited to see this paper finally published! This is part of the work that Giancarlo a former student at the University of Florida/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center did in collaboration with Dr. Matt Mattia at the USDA station in Ft. Pierce, FL, really fun and productive work. Looking forward to building on this and sharing more results soon. More to come!

The use of oxytetracycline antibiotic trunk injections in a huanglongbing environment and the effect on canopy, root systems, and rhizosphere microbiome - Tropical Plant Pathology The global citrus industry has been severely affected by huanglongbing (HLB), a citrus disease associated with the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas), vectored by the Asian citrus psyllid. HLB symptoms are seen in the tree's canopy, fruit, and root systems, which include canopy dieba...

HORT 202 is a wrap! Pretty special to be doing this in a program with 140 years of horticulture education at Texas A&M University Department of Horticultural Sciences. Different tools, same mission: hands-on learning and growing the next generation of horticulturists.

Huge thanks to Allison Love, Harper Esterak, and Jacob Muras for the incredible work as TAs. This lab is no small task: managing the number of sections, students, plants, and replicates takes a ton of effort, but it’s absolutely worth it.

100+ students, 5 sections, 15 weeks, and 13 hands-on labs. Students grew a wide range of horticultural crops while diving into nomenclature, plant morphology and anatomy, soils, sexual and asexual propagation, hydroponics, LED lighting, temperature effects, ethics, and careers in horticulture. And yes, there was a lot of fun along the way.

Seeing students learn by doing, and getting to take home the plants they grew, never gets old.

HORT 201 Fall 2026 is in the books! Aggies show up. They put in the hard work. Rough tough! Real stuff! Texas A&M!
15 weeks, 500+ students, and a semester full of hands-on experiences: 12 tastings and demonstrations: from artichokes, dates, pine nuts, and olives to Texas olive oil, grapes, citrus, figs, Easter lilies, Texas potatoes, tomatoes, and carrots.
We also welcomed 4 Extension guest speakers (3 in-state, 1 out-of-state), connecting our classroom to the real world of horticulture.
Proud of this cohort. Proud of the work. And already looking forward to the next one. - Texas A&M University Department of Horticultural Sciences. Always growing.

Our latest paper, in collaboration with the University of Florida/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center has just been accepted! We found that moderate biochar applications can significantly enhance root system architecture and nutrient uptake across multiple citrus rootstocks in sandy soils. 🌱 🍊

Frontiers | Impact of biochar on citrus rootstocks growth, nutrient uptake, root system architecture, and soil properties Citrus greening (Huanglongbing, HLB) continues to threaten citrus production in the United States, particularly in Florida, by impairing root growth and nutr...