Lab PI
Glen Ritchie, Ph.D.
Professor of Crop Physiology
J.A. Love Endowed Chair
PSS Department Chair
Email: glen.ritchie@ttu.edu
Phone: (806) 834-4325
Crop Physiology Research Laboratory
Our group is passionate about understanding how crops grow and thrive in different agricultural systems. We bring together researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, growers, and industry professionals with diverse backgrounds to collaborate, share insights, and drive progress in crop physiology.
Explore our page to learn more about our latest discoveries and exciting projects that we are currently working on.
Research
Our research program covers every step of crop production from planting through harvesting. We typically conduct small-plot cotton and other field crops research with fifty or more independent irrigation treatments and 2000-4000 individual plots each year. Our research plots are located at the Quaker Avenue Research Farm and New Deal Research Farm.
Throughout the growing season, we closely monitor crop growth and development using advanced techniques and technologies to gather data on plant health, water use dynamics, resource partitioning, fruiting patterns, and responses to environmental conditions.
Our research group specializes in box and plant mapping techniques to accurately track the dynamic patterns of cotton boll distribution across diverse management strategies.
We believe that the most impactful research happens at the intersection of diverse perspectives and expertise. We actively foster collaboration among researchers across different fields within our department, across various departments at Texas Tech University and other institutions, as well as with our industry partners.
Selected Publications
- Bolouri, F., Kocoglu, Y., Pabuayon, I. L. B., Ritchie, G. L., & Sari-Sarraf, H. (2024). CottonSense: A high-throughput field phenotyping system for cotton fruit segmentation and enumeration on edge devices. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 216, 108531.
- Pabuayon, I. L. B., Bordovsky, J. P., Lewis, K. L., & Ritchie, G. L. (2023). Fruiting patterns impact carbon accumulation dynamics in cotton. Field Crops Research, 295, 108892.
- Pabuayon, I. L. B., Singh, S., & Ritchie, G. (2022). Guar resilience in water‐restricted production. Crop Science, 62(5), 1937-1947.
- Pabuayon, I. L. B., Mitchell-McCallister, D., Lewis, K. L., & Ritchie, G. L. (2021). Yield and economic response of modern cotton cultivars to nitrogen fertilizer. Agronomy, 11(11), 2149.
- Pabuayon, I. L. B., Lewis, K. L., & Ritchie, G. L. (2021). Hidden fractions: Another look at micronutrient and sodium partitioning in modern cotton cultivars. Crop Science, 61(5), 3623-3636.
- Pabuayon, I. L. B., Kelly, B. R., Mitchell‐McCallister, D., Coldren, C. L., & Ritchie, G. L. (2021). Cotton boll distribution: A review. Agronomy Journal, 113(2), 956-970.
- Pabuayon, I. L. B., Lewis, K. L., & Ritchie, G. L. (2020). Dry matter and nutrient partitioning changes for the past 30 years of cotton production. Agronomy Journal, 112(5), 4373-4385.
- Thompson, C. N., Mills, C., Pabuayon, I. L. B., & Ritchie, G. L. (2020). Time‐based remote sensing yield estimates of cotton in water‐limiting environments. Agronomy Journal, 112(2), 975-984.
- Dube, N., Bryant, B., Sari‐Sarraf, H., & Ritchie, G. L. (2020). Cotton boll distribution and yield estimation using three‐dimensional point cloud data. Agronomy Journal, 112(6), 4976-4989.
- Pabuayon, I. L. B., Sun, Y., Guo, W., & Ritchie, G. L. (2019). High-throughput phenotyping in cotton: a review. Journal of Cotton Research, 2, 1-9.
- Pabuayon, I. L. B., Singh, S., & Ritchie, G. L. (2019). Effects of deficit irrigation on yield and oil content of sesame, safflower, and sunflower. Agronomy Journal, 111(6), 3091-3098.
- Schaefer, C. R., Ritchie, G. L., Bordovsky, J. P., Lewis, K., & Kelly, B. (2018). Irrigation timing and rate affect cotton boll distribution and fiber quality. Agronomy Journal, 110(3), 922-931.
- Sharma, B., & Ritchie, G. L. (2015). High‐throughput phenotyping of cotton in multiple irrigation environments. Crop Science, 55(2), 958-969.
- Snowden, M. C., Ritchie, G. L., Simao, F. R., & Bordovsky, J. P. (2014). Timing of episodic drought can be critical in cotton. Agronomy Journal, 106(2), 452-458.
- Snowden, C., Ritchie, G., Cave, J., Keeling, W., & Rajan, N. (2013). Multiple irrigation levels affect boll distribution, yield, and fiber micronaire in cotton. Agronomy Journal, 105(6), 1536-1544.
People
Lab PI
Irish Lorraine Pabuayon, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Email: irish-lorraine.pabuayon@ttu.edu
Phone: (806) 500-4491
Current Lab Members
Lab Alumni
- Bablu Sharma, Ph.D.
- Curtis Schaefer, Ph.D
- Nothabo Dube, Ph.D.
- Chase Snowden, Ph.D.
- Fulvio Simao, Ph.D.
- Kelsey House
- Nick Macha
- Luke Obenhaus
- Robert Ballesteros
Outreach & Engagement
We are deeply committed to engaging with the community by sharing our research through field days and interactive demonstrations. These events provide a valuable opportunity to showcase our latest studies and discoveries, allowing students, producers, and the ag community to directly experience the practical applications of our work. Our group is also actively involved in organizing the annual State FFA Agronomy Contest.
News
Congratulations to Mr. Zelalem Alemar for receiving the 2024 West Texas Agricultural Chemicals Institute scholarship award!
Irish Pabuayon Tapped as PSS Research Assistant Professor
Meet the new Crop Science Editor, Dr. Glen Ritchie!
2022 Outstanding Doctoral Graduate Student Award Goes to Irish Pabuayon
Researchers evaluate improvements in cotton cultivar nutrition uptake and partition
Ritchie tapped as new chair of Texas Tech Department of Plant & Soil Science
CSA News - Sesame yields stable in drought conditions
Join the Lab
M.S. Graduate Research Assistantship | Cotton Agronomy and Physiology
Part-time student assistants | Fall 2024 cotton harvesting and processing (20 hours per week)
For more information, please contact Dr. Irish Pabuayon (irish-lorraine.pabuayon@ttu.edu).
Contact
Dr. Glen Ritchie
Professor of Crop Physiology
J.A. Love Endowed Chair
PSS Department Chair
Email: glen.ritchie@ttu.edu
Phone: (806) 834-4325
Dr. Irish Lorraine Pabuayon
Research Assistant Professor
Email: irish-lorraine.pabuayon@ttu.edu
Phone: (806) 500-4491
Department of Plant and Soil Science
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Address
Texas Tech University, Department of Plant and Soil Science, Box 42122, Lubbock, TX 79409 -
Phone
806.742.2838 -
Email
psstechsupport@ttu.edu