In this project, we will first evaluate up to 500 diverse finger millet accessions that originated in Ethiopia for their tolerance to abiotic stresses at an early seedling stage by using a standard technique.

The seeds of each finger millet accession will be surface disinfected and germinated for three days. The seedlings will then be grown under "control" and "stress" conditions. 

The root length of each accession will be measured and analyzed to determine their tolerance level. Accessions representing all tolerance classes for each abiotic stress will be selected for molecular analyses. 

Leaf and root samples will be collected from the selected accessions for the isolation of nucleic acids, which will be used for library preparation and sequencing. The sequence data and phenotype data will be collected following standard procedures.