Quality traits related to lipid component in hemp(Cannabis Sativa L.) germplasm

In order to accelerate breeding progress of oil-used hemp, 8 quality traits related to lipid component were measured and analyzed in 55 representative hemp germplasms. Results showed that linolenic acid content had the highest variance coefficient of 51.67% as well as protein content had minimum variance coefficient of 4.07%. Correlation analysis showed that total oil content was significantly positively correlated to linolenic acid, while significantly negatively correlated with oleinic acid. Protein content was significantly positively correlated with linolenic acid but significantly negatively with stearic acid. Both total oil and protein content were closely correlated with other traits. The first 3 PCs from principal component analysis of 8 traits accounted for 83.53% contribution. All hemp germplasms were classified into 3 groups at the level of euclidian distance D=8.5 using cluster analysis. The above analysis and classification may provide a reliable theoretical basis and technological guidance for germplasms utilizing and accelerating breeding process.