Leonard M. Pike
Professor, Department of Horticultural Sciences
Director, Vegetable Improvement Center
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2133
Phone: 409-845-7012 FAX: 409-862-4522
Leonard Pike received his B.S. and M.S. in Horticulture from the University of Arkansas in 1962 and 1964, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Horticulture in 1967 from Michigan State University. Dr. Pike became a member of the graduate faculty at Texas A&M University in 1978.
Dr. Pike's research interests include plant genetics, breeding, biochemistry, physiology, pathology and nutrition and health. He has developed numerous cultivars that are grown worldwide. Currently, emphasis is on genetic improvement of vegetables with high levels of naturally occurring chemicals providing health benefits in our diet.
My teaching responsibilities include serving as advisor to graduate students and teaching a graduate level course in commercial seed production. The philosophy that I follow in advising graduate students is to present problems which need research, let them choose one that interests them, then challenge them to solve it. I am always willing to help, but never attempt to think for the student. Good students must learn by observing, asking questions, reading and working on their research program.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
- Onion Breeding. L.M. Pike. In Vegetable Breeding. Mark J. Bassett.(ed.) AVI Publishing. (1986).
- 'Texas Grano 1015Y', a mild pungency, sweet, shortday onion. L.M. Pike. HortScience. 23:634-635. (1988).
- Cucumbers. L.M. Pike. In Detecting Mineral Nutrient Deficiencies in Tropical and Temperate Crops. Westview Press. (1988).
- A tissue culture technique for the asexual clonal propagation of genetic-cytoplasmic male sterile and/or other onion lines. L.M. Pike and K.S. Yoo. Scientia Horticulturae. 45:31-36. (1989).
- A comparison between bags and boxes for shipping Texas short-day onions. L.M. Pike, K.S. Yoo and T.H. Camp. HortScience. 24(4):631-632.(1989).