A PHENOTYPIC DIVERSITY ANALYSIS OF FOXTAIL MILLET (SETARIA-ITALICA (L) P BEAUV) LANDRACES OF CHINESE ORIGIN

A total of 23 381 foxtail millet landraces of Chinese origin were anal ysed for seven qualitative traits and four quantitative traits. The Sh annon-Weaver diversity index was used to estimate the phenotypic diver sity of each characteristic on the basis of administrative provinces a nd ecogeographical regions. Hierarchical analysis of variance indicate d that most of the variation was due to differences among characterist ics. Only the diversity indices for leaf color of seedlings, starch co mposition and 1000-grain weight showed significant differences among r egions. In relative terms, a greater genetic divergence was found in s ome provinces of southern China, where foxtail millet is not a major c rop.