The genomes of two new Alopecurus grasses, blackgrass and orange/shortawn
foxtail, have been sequenced by researchers from the Rothamsted Research,
Earlham Institute, and the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA)
initiative, revealing how similar weeds can dominate wheat fields that are
geographically separated by over 5,000 miles.



Both blackgrass (Alopecurus myosuroides) and orange/shortawn foxtail
(Alopecurus aequalis) are native to many regions across the Northern
Hemisphere. However, blackgrass is a predominant agricultural weed in
Western European winter wheat and barley, whereas orange foxtail has emerged
as the dominant agricultural weed for similar crops in parts of China and
Japan. Both weeds grow in grass crops and frequently out-compete cereal
crops. Changes in cropping practices have not been effective in controlling
the weeds, and both have evolved resistance to multiple herbicides.



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