Don,
Here is a link to a summary of 100 seed weights for the foxtail millet group, which includes wild species.
There are a few accessions from China with much larger seeds. I assume the are what the Chinese are breeding with for their large seed varieties, which are probably larger seeded than Golden German.
I would like to have a variety that has easy threshing so that husk removal is not an obstacle to human food use.
Thank you for this wonderful foxtail millet month.
David Brenner
NC7
From: Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2025 11:41 AM
To: Brenner, David (CTR) - REE-ARS <david.brenner@usda.gov>
Cc: collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space>
Subject: Re: Foxtail Millet Seed Curator Perspective
Thank you, David, for this information.
How about German millet (variety of foxtail) in your collection? Here's a very short video from Renovo Seeds with a comparison of white wonder & golden German:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHTF3dgOigQ . These were also mentioned in our recent Millets Webinar.
I understand the German millet grains are a bit larger. In China there is a special term for millet - liáng 粱 - that according to Prof. Francesca Bray "appears to denote a large-grained, fine-flavoured sub-species
of setaria, probably what is known as 'German millet.'"
Interestingly, the Chinese term for sorghum, which was introduced there ages ago, is "tall liáng" - gāoliáng 高粱.
Don
DO, EL, MI, US
NAMA
Foxtail Millet Seed Curator Perspective
The US National Plant Germplasm Collection has 764 accessions of foxtail millet (Setaria italica) housed here at the National Plant Germplasm station in Ames, Iowa. Our accessions originated in many
countries, but mostly India, Taiwan, China, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Hungary. Most can mature seeds here in the field, but some are too late flowering for this climate.
The wild and weedy Setaria viridis
(204 accessions) is closely related to foxtail millet and is crossing compatible. We also have a substantial collection, 78 accessions of the tropical forage
Setaria sphacelata.
Some foxtail millet examples with pictures:
The most important foxtail millet cultivar in the United States is 'White Wonder'. It is grown for seeds in the High Plains south of Interstate Highway 80. The seeds are planted in Texas and similar latitudes
as a summer annual fodder crop.
If you are looking for something else in foxtail millet you can ask me, and we may have it. I am curious about what people are looking for. The seeds are intended for research and development, including commercial
development so we want requests.
I grow about 80 accessions in the field each year to get observation data and eventually have field notes and images for the entire foxtail collection.
Plant Introduction Station phone 515-294-6786
Iowa State University
716 Farm House Lane, Ames, IA 50011-1051
USA
Curator of: Amaranthus, Celosia, Chenopodium, Coronilla, Dalea, Galega, Melilotus, Perilla, Portulaca, Spinacia, miscellaneous Umbelliferae, and the millets: Echinochloa, Panicum, and Setaria.
Hatch Act NC7 Regional Project in the US National Plant Germplasm System
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