Agronomic Characters Diversity of Pokem (Setaria italica L. Beauv) Accessions from Numfor Island, Papua, Indonesia

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica L. Beauv) or Jewawut, or expressly by the Papuan people as Papuan wheat or referred to as 'Pokem' (Setaria italica L. Beauv). This is an endemic plant frequently found on Numfor Island, a part of Biak-Numfor Regency. The high potential and benefits of pokem present an opportunity to produce new varieties via plant breeding initiatives based on the diversity of pokem accessions from Numfor Island regarding superior accessions and germplasm conservation. The classification grouping can be determined based on the diversity of plant accessions. Based on the physical traits of pokem plant accessions, this study aims to discover and quantify their genetic diversity. The study was conducted at the Experimental Garden of the University of Papua's School of Agriculture in Amban Manokwari using pokem seeds collected from already-cultivated regions. This study utilized a Randomized Block Design (RBD) consisting of 15 pokem plant accessions with 4 (four) replications and 60 experimental units. On eleven agronomic characteristics, kinship observations were made. Using PCA, cluster, and biplot analyses, genetic distance was determined. The position of the panicle on the stem, leaf length, flag leaf width, stem length, stem diameter, panicle length, grain color, flowering duration, and number of long internodes all contribute to the 74.285% total diversity. The two pokem accessions from Numfor island with the highest genetic similarity are Kameri 2 (KM2) and Kansai 2 (KN2), but Kameri 1 (KM1) and Rimba Raya 3 (RR3) are genetically distant. It may serve as the parental cross. Stem and leaf lengths exhibited the most variability based on biplot results, while Kameri 1 (KM1) and Rimba Raya 3 (RR3) accessions exhibited the largest diversity based on agronomic parameters.