Studies were conducted on specific core collections constructedon the basis of different traits and sample size by the method of stepwise cluster with three sampling strategies based on genotypic values of cotton.A total of 21 traits (11 agronomy traits,5 fiber traits and 5 seed traits) were used to construct main core collections.Specific core collections,as representative of the initial collection,were constructed by agronomy,fiber or seed trait,respectively.As compared with the main core collection,specific core collections tended to have similar property for maintaining genetic diversity of agronomy,seed or fiber traits.Core collections developed by about sample size of 17% (P2=0.17) and 24% (P1= 0.24) with three sampling strategies could be quite representative of the initial collection.