Dr. Gerald Ray Smith

Texas A&M Regents Fellow and Professor of Plant Breeding
E-Mail: g-smith@tamu.edu

Websites:
Cool-Season Legumes
Aggie Clover
Ryegrass and Small Grains

Dr. Smith is employed by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and has worked at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton since Jun, 1981. He conducts plant breeding and genetics research on forage legumes and grasses. Cultivars released include: Apache arrowleaf clover; Blackhawk arrowleaf clover; Overton R18 rose clover; Neches white clover; Silver River sweetclover; Rio Verde lablab and Ace forage cowpea. Current research emphasis includes the following: disease resistance and seed production of lablab; multi-use cowpeas; annual clovers for the US southern region; annual forage ryegrass; and white flower annual sweetclover for forage and wildlife.

Education:

  • BS, Agronomy, Auburn University, 1975
  • MS, Agronomy (Plant Breeding), Auburn University, 1977
  • PhD, Agronomy (Plant Breeding), Mississippi State University, 1981

Appointments:

2008 – present: TAMU Regents Fellow, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, TAMU System
1993 – present: Professor, Texas AgriLife Research, TAMU System
1987 – 1993: Associate Professor, TAES-Overton, TAMU System
1981 – 1987: Assistant Professor, TAES-Overton, TAMU System

Professional Activities and Honors (selected):

  • Southern Pasture and Forage Crop Improvement Conference – Breeders Work Group Chairman 1990-91; General Chairman 1995-96.
  • North American Trifolium Conference – General Chairman 2003-04.
  • Clover and Special Purpose Legumes Crop Germplasm Committee (National Plant Germplasm System), member 1988-present; Vice-Chair and Secretary 1995-98; Chairman 1999-2002.
  • American Forage and Grassland Council – Merit Certificate, 1988.
  • TAMU Vice-Chancellor’s Award in Excellence for Team Research, 1996.
  • Award of Excellence in Agricultural Research, Build East Texas, 2001.
  • TAMU Vice-Chancellor’s Award in Excellence (Team Award), 2004.
  • TAMU Soil and Crop Sciences Dept. Research Award, 2006.
  • TAMU Regents Fellow Service Award, 2008.
  • Fellow, Crop Science Society of America, 2017

Selected Publications:

  • Smith, G.R., F.M. Rouquette, Jr., and I.J. Pemberton. 2008.  Registration of Rio Verde lablab. J. of Plant Reg. 2:15.
  • Smith, G.R., F.M. Rouquette, Jr., and I.J. Pemberton. 2009. Lablab Bean: A New Multi-purpose Forage and Seed Crop for Texas. Proceedings of 14thAustralasian Plant Breeding Conference. 10-14 Aug. 2009. Cairns, Australia
  • Contreras-Goveartesia, F.E.,  S.V. Angadi, G.R. Smith, L.M. Lauriault, and D.M. VanLeeuwen. 2011. Fermentability and nutritive value of corn and forage sorghum silage when in mixture with lablab bean. Crop Science 51:1307-1313
  • Smith, G. R., G. W. Evers, W. R. Ocumpaugh, T. D. A. Forbes, K. Ong, and J. Foster Malone. 2017. Silver River Sweetclover.  J. Plant Reg. 11(2).  PVP# 201700297.
  • Smith, G.R., F.M. Rouquette, Jr., and P. DeLaune. 2020. Registration of Ace forage cowpea.  J. Plant Regist. 14:126-133.  PVP#201900266.

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