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Establishing a core collection of foxtail millet to enhance the utilization of germplasm of an underutilized crop
- Hari D. Upadhyaya, R. P. S. Pundir, C. L. L. Gowda, V. Gopal Reddy, S. Singh
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- Journal:
- Plant Genetic Resources / Volume 7 / Issue 2 / August 2009
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 16 December 2008, pp. 177-184
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- Article
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Foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) Beauv.) is one of the ten small millets and is cultivated in 23 countries. The foxtail millet is valued as a crop of short duration, which is good as food, feed and fodder. In general, grain yield levels of foxtail millet are low in comparison with other staple cereals. The greater use of diverse germplasm in breeding is suggested as a means to improve the productivity of this crop. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics genebank is presently holding 1474 cultivated germplasm accessions from 23 countries. To utilize this diversity in research, a core collection (10% of the entire collection) was established using the taxonomic and qualitative traits data. The germplasm accessions were stratified into three taxonomic races (Indica, Maxima and Moharia). Principal coordinate analysis was performed on 12 qualitative traits for each of the biological races, separately that resulted in the formation of 29 clusters. From each cluster, 10% of the accessions were selected to constitute a core collection of 155 accessions. The composition and diversity of the core collection was validated by the χ2-tests of the frequencies of origin, races, subraces and data on qualitative traits. The analysis of the quantitative traits for mean, range, variance, Shannon–Weaver diversity index and phenotypic associations indicated that the diversity from the entire collection was optimally represented in the core collection. The core subset will be evaluated in replicated trials to make a more precise assessment of diversity and further efforts to identify the sources of agronomic and grain nutritional traits for utilization in breeding programmes.
Chapter 20 - Sorghum
- Edited by Dominic Fuccillo, University of Arkansas, Linda Sears, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Paul Stapleton, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome
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- Book:
- Biodiversity in Trust
- Published online:
- 22 September 2009
- Print publication:
- 28 August 1997, pp 292-308
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Summary
Cultivated sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, is the fifth most important cereal in the world after rice, wheat, maize and barley. The countries with the greatest areas of sorghum production are India (12.9 million ha), Sudan (5.7 million ha), Nigeria and the USA (4.0 million ha each) and Niger (2.35 million ha). Other major producers include Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela in the Americas; Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, Tanzania, Chad, Cameroon, Somalia and Mozambique in Africa; China, Pakistan and Yemen in Asia. In terms of production, the major sorghum-growing countries of the world are the USA (17.5 million t), India (12.4 million t), China (5.1 million t), Mexico (4.4 million t), Nigeria (4.0 million t) and Sudan (3.3 million t). In many other countries, production is much lower but sorghum is a significant part of the agricultural production and a very important food crop for millions of poor farmers. This is particularly true for rain-fed areas of Asia and Africa. In many areas, the stalks and foliage (used as fodder, fuel, thatching and fencing material) are valued as much as the grain.
BOTANY AND DISTRIBUTION
Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench (2n=20) is synonomous with Holcus bicolor L., Andropogon sorghum (L.) Brot. and Sorghum vulgare Pers. Sorghum has been called great millet, guinea corn, milo, sorgo (English); sorgho (French); sorgo (Spanish, Portuguese); jowar, cholam, jonna (India); kaoliang (China) and durra (Sudan).
Sorghum bicolor is considered an extremely variable crop-weed complex. It comprises wild, weedy and cultivated annual forms which are fully interfertile.