Abstract: 【Objective】The objective of this study is to analyze the changes of agronomic traits, yield and resistance characters of foxtail millet cultivars released in the early-mature spring-sowing region in China in the past 15 years, the progress and breeding direction of foxtail millet was discussed, which provided scientific evidence for new cultivars development in the future.【Method】 Based on the data obtained from early-mature spring-sowing foxtail millet cultivars that participated in the regional adaptation test from 2001 to 2015 in Northwest China, agronomic traits and grain yield traits were analyzed and compared. 【Result】There were 85 newly developed foxtail millet lines participated in the regional adaptation test from 2001 to 2015, among which 18 lines that meet the national standard of new cultivar were authorized to release. Among the 12 conventional cultivars and 6 hybrid cultivars that released, only three of them have the grain yield potential that is over 10% higher than the control. Great difference was identified among the average grain yield of lines that participated in the test between different years, but it shows a potential of increase of grain yield with the time schedule. There is no significant difference among the annual means of panicle length and 1000-grain weight of the tested and released foxtail millet lines and the range of panicle length and 1000-grain weight were 23-27 cm and 3-3.4 g respectively, while significant differences were identified between the annual means of plant height, panicle weight and panicle grain weight, which showed a gradual increase trend with the time schedule. Among the 18 cultivars released, the growth duration of 13 of them is longer than the control cultivars, and all those cultivars were characterized with taller plant height, heavier panicle weight and panicle grain weight, which imply that much more attention was paid on the selection of single plant characters in the breeding efforts. Co-relation coefficient analyses indicated that 81.43% of the grain yield variation was decided by growth duration, plant height, panicle weight, panicle grain weight and the rate of grain per panicle, and grain yield was significantly related with panicle weight and panicle grain weight. Diseases and drought resistance related characters of those lines participated in the test were also recorded which indicated that the resistant ability of stresses of released lines among the past 15 years in the early mature foxtail millet breeding became stronger. 【Conclusion】 There is a growth tendency of grain yield in the newly developed early mature foxtail millet cultivars in 2001-2015, the main characters that contributing to grain yield include panicle weight, panicle grain weight, plant height and growth duration. Considering the quick development of machinery cultivation, efforts of developing short plant height, strong logging resistance, big panicle with higher net grain rate should be paid much more attention.

Key words: spring foxtail millet, early-mature, regional trial, grain yield, agronomic characters, correlation analysis