Use of Heuristic Approach for the Development of a Core Set from Large Germplasm Collection of Foxtail Millet (Setaria italica L.)

Foxtail millet, (Setaria italica L.) is an ancient crop and important minor cereal. It has a long history of cultivation in India and possesses rich genetic diversity conserved in genebanks. Large germplasm collection in genebanks limit accessibility of this crop in crop breeding. It is, therefore, important to develop core sets of germplasm from large collection for conserving maximum diversity of this crop. “PowerCore” is a new approach that simplifies the generation process of a core set by significantly cutting down the number of core entries but maintaining maximum diversity. Here, we have developed a core set from 1,482 accessions of foxtail millet using data of 25 quantitative and qualitative descriptors. The newly formed core set has 59 accessions which represents 4% of the total collection. This heuristic method has proved to be an efficient tool for developing core sets from collections of unequal diversity and differentiation