BIODIVERSITAS ISSN: 1412-033X Volume 21, Number 1, January 2020 E-ISSN: 2085-4722 Pages: 67-73 DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d210110 Local food diversification of foxtail millet (Setaria italica) cultivars in West Sulawesi, Indonesia: A case study of diversity and local culture RAMLAH 1 , MARCIA BUNGA PABENDON 2 , BUDI SETIADI DARYONO 3, 1 Graduate Program in Biology, Faculty of Biology, Faculty of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada. Jl. Teknika Selatan, Sleman 55281, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 2 Indonesian Cereals Research Institute. Jl. Dr. Ratulangi No. 274, Maros 90512, South Sulawesi, Indonesia 3 Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding, Faculty of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada. Jl. Teknika Selatan, Sleman 55281, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Tel.: +62-274-580839, Fax.: +62-274-6492355,  email: bs_daryono@mail.ugm.ac.id, ramlahganis@gmail.com Manuscript received: 19 July 2019. Revision accepted: 5 December 2019. Abstract. Ramlah, Pabendon MB, Daryono BS. 2020. Local food diversification of foxtail millet (Setaria italica) cultivars in West Sulawesi, Indonesia: A case study of diversity and local culture. Biodiversitas 21: 67-73. Foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) P.Beauv.) is one of the non-rice cereal crops that has long been domesticated in the world, including West Sulawesi-Indonesia as an alternative food crop instead of rice on local culture. Traditional millet cultivars may become an indispensable part of the local culture and traditions of millet-growing people across Asia over many generations. The existence of this germplasm in West Sulawesi Province, Indonesia has been observed morphologically and showed a close relationship with local culture. A total of six traditional millet cultivars (Tarreang) with different morphological characteristics have been found in this region and still preserved sustainably by the local farmers along with their local culture and traditions. The tradition of Sayyang pattu’duq may become a good example of this relationship. In this tradition, some traditional food is made by the local people like porridge tarreang, jelly tarreang, buras tarreang, jepa golla mamea, jepa anjoroi, dodol tarreang, also widely presented and used as a symbol in important ceremonies, such as celebrations in the month of Muharram, completed Al-Qur'an for children, weddings, births or show the baby's. This information may be useful as guidance for conservation and millet breeding programs in the future. Keywords: Foxtail millet, Indonesia, local culture, Tarreang, West Sulawesi INTRODUCTION Sulawesi is one of the five largest islands in Indonesia, located in the east of Kalimantan, which is filled with the Makassar Strait and in the west of Maluku Islands. Biogeographically, Sulawesi is one of the largest and most important islands in the Wallacea region. Volcanic deposits and smaller rainfall from Kalimantan cause soil types to become more unique, so that flora that is able to grow adapts to dry areas. These conditions make Sulawesi one of the richest regions that will contribute to life after Papua and Kalimantan (Sunarko 2013). The biological potential of Sulawesi’s plant diversity has not been fully studied, approved by various new scientific discoveries by botanists, both those supporting new records and new types (new species) (Pitopang et al. 2008). The type of Indonesian agroecology is very diverse; this can be seen by the diversity of regions, topography, land, water availability and climate that have formed plants to grow and adapt to specific locations. Cultivars that have good tolerance to local conditions are known as local cultivars (landrace) (Ramlah et al. 2017). Local food crop (germplasm) is a very important asset so it must be preserved, as well as an effort to find, collect and research types of food crops, to secure it as a source of genes in the millet breeding programs in the future (Rais 2004). One potential cereal with good prospects to be developed in West Sulawesi, Indonesia is foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.). Foxtail millet is one of the non rice food crops that have long been domesticated in the world including in West Sulawesi Province, Indonesia as an alternative food crop, mainly because of its ability to grow and adapt to both tropical and sub-tropical regions of India, China, Asia, North Africa and America (Kole 2017). Foxtail millet is one type of cereal plant that has very good potential as an alternative food crop in terms of nutritional value, a major source of energy, protein and has high nutritive value, comparable to major cereals such as wheat, rice, and maize (Saleh et al. 2013). This plant has good nutrition, carbohydrate, protein, fat, and rich in fiber (Bandyopadhyay et al. 2017). Aside from being a source of carbohydrates, millet can be developed as a functional food source because it has a low glycemic index (Thathola et al. 2011), the high anti-oxidant content (Sharma et al. 2015), even potentially as an anti-cancer (Saleh et al. 2013) and relative tolerance to drought or salinity stresses (Widyawan et al. 2018). Evaluation of nutritive values and antinutrients showed that foxtail millet from Papua, Indonesia is potential to be used as feedstuff, and used as a corn substitution in poultry feed (Tirajoh 2015). This plant is one of the important cereals that is used as food and feed with high nutritional quality and contains a number of bioactive compounds that have many benefits. In West Sulawesi, foxtail millet known as Tarreang, has several local cultivars, many of which are planted and processed by the local people into a variety of traditional