''Setaria faberi'', the Japanese bristlegrass, nodding bristle-grass,
Chinese foxtail, Chinese millet, giant bristlegrass, giant foxtail or nodding foxtail, is an
Asian
grass. It is a summer annual, with plants emerging from seeds in the spring, and setting seeds in the late summer or fall.
Giant foxtails prefer compacted soils, high in nitrogen and phosphorus. The plant gains a competitive edge on
crops as the
soil pH
Soil pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity (alkalinity) of a soil. Soil pH is a key characteristic that can be used to make informative analysis both qualitative and quantitatively regarding soil characteristics. pH is defined as the neg ...
increases.
As a weed
Giant foxtail has been introduced to
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, where it is a widespread
weed. It is a significant pest of
maize/corn, reducing crop yields by 13–14% at average plant distributions. Mechanical control of giant foxtails by night tillage, rotary hoeing, or flaming is very difficult. Crop rotation with two years of
alfalfa
Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...
effectively reduces giant foxtail populations. Herbicides can effectively control the plant when it is growing amongst
broadleaf crops, but are less effective when it is infesting maize/corn because they are both
Poaceae
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
.
[A. Davis, K. Renner, C. Sprague, L. Dyer, D. Mutch (2005). Integrated Weed Management. MSU.]
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
faberi
{{Panicoideae-stub