Texas A&M University Kingsville Citrus Center

Photo Gallery: The sweet glow of citrus season in the Rio Grande Valley Photo Gallery: The sweet glow of citrus season in the Rio Grande Valley

Texas A&M scientists solve major problems plaguing Valley citrus orchards Texas citrus is confronting myriad challenges these days, from pests to disease to drought, though two scientists with Texas A&M University have given the industry a fighting chance.

The Kunta Lab was present at the Plant Health Meeting 2025 of the APS in Hawaii 🍋🌲🍊. Members presented exciting results on multiple projects. Marissa presented a poster titled: “Growth evaluation of citrus rootstock seedlings graft-inoculated with citrus viruses and viroids”. Cynthia’s poster gave us a first-look to strains of Bdellovibrio, which is a microbe found in Texas soil with interesting antibiotic properties. Dr. Kunta also had the pleasure to share his findings on bacterial isolates with potential as biological control agents of pathogens affecting citrus in Texas. -CitrusCenter

The TAMUK Citrus Center was well represented at the 2025 American Society for Horticultural Sciences (ASHS) Annual Conference, held in New Orleans, LA from July 27-August 1. Dr. Cabrera spoke about the effects of nitrogen rate on grapefruit in southern Texas. Dr. Hussain spoke about transcriptomic profiles of different elite rootstocks in drought conditions to enhance tree resilience. Dr. Kunta presented effects of oxytetracycline (OTC) antibiotic injection in tree trunks of mature grapefruit trees affected by Huanglongbing (HLB). Master students mentored by Drs. Kunta and Satpute, Julianna Leal presented a poster on i) grapefruit and sweet orange fruit development in HLB endemic citrus groves in the LRGV, and ii) Ajith Babburu gave a talk on boosting canopy health of the HLB-affected citrus trees with micronutrient and antioxidant treatments. -CitrusCenter

The TAMUK Citrus Center hosted a participatory growers workshop to continue our mission of empowering our Texas industry to thrive in an evolving global marketplace. We thank all of our producers for their participation. If you want to know more, please do not hesitate to reach out. We are here to serve You.

Last week our valley experienced excessive rainfall. Certain areas received up to 24 in of water, which despite of being a blessing, can be conducive to low oxygen availability and root decay of trees. It is important to minimize the flood-stress of these trees, and find ways to drain excess water.

Citrus Center faculty and staff hosted members of the SASCOC team to review our Institutional mission, vision, and commitment to quality academic standards”. We at the Citrus Center continue our goals to produce well-rounded professionals that will lead AG research and development to the benefit our Great State of Texas and the world.

Our Center Director, Dr. Mamoudou Sétamou shared research updates with Texas citrus growers during the Texas Citrus Mutual annual meeting held in Mission, TX.

Please reach out to our scientists with your questions. We are here to serve you.

Dr. Cabrera participated in the cleanup of Gibson park in Weslaco, Texas last Saturday.

Dr. Cabrera is an Assistant Professor of Horticulture at the TAMUK Citrus Center.

Congratulations to Dr. Joel Cabrera, he will be working with the National Science Foundation grant awarded to Texas A&M University Kingsville

NSF awards $2 million to Texas A&M-Kingsville to expand graduate training model to address coastal issues Dr. Jianhong Jennifer Ren, professor of environmental engineering in the Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering at Texas A&M University-Kingsville was recently awarded $2 million from the National Science Foundation for Graduate STEM Education for Air and Water Resources Solutions in Coastal Co...

Freeze fallout: Despite losses, Valley citrus growers feel they’ve weathered the storm The deep freeze in February which saw temperatures drop into the low 20s and stay there wasn’t the first time — and won’t be the last — that weather events caused catastrophic damage to the orange and grapefruit groves up and down the Rio Grande Valley.

https://www.valleycentral.com/news/local-news/replanting-will-take-years-rgv-citrus-farmers-assess-the-damage-from-winter-storm/

‘Replanting will take years’: RGV citrus farmers assess the damage from winter storm Harlingen, Texas (KVEO) — Several weeks after the storm, farmers are starting to see the scale of how much of their citrus crops were destroyed in the arctic blast. “We’re starting to see som…